Three years after the Venus' flytrap was proposed to be named an endangered species, conservationists are suing the Trump administration to do, well, anything.

South Carolina's own "Little Shop of Horrors" meat-eating monster could go extinct before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acts, the lawsuit contends.

"The plant is now down to only 2 percent of its original range, as it thrives only in wet sites with poor soils that burn easily," said Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director for the Center for Biodiversity. Federal regulators "are really just dragging their feet."

The delays have concerned conservationists for years. The wildlife service has become seriously backlogged dealing with petitions because of program underfunding and political opposition, Greenwald said.

But the delays have been exacerbated under the Trump administration, which is falling far behind the Obama and Bush administrations in the number of designations made, he said. The center has little choice but to sue.

The wildlife service does not comment on active lawsuits.

The flytrap is among 241 plants and animals the center says the wildlife service has failed to decide on despite a mandatory one-year deadline. Another one found in South Carolina is the spotted turtle, which has waited for a decision since 2012.

Listing the flytrap, which would carry stiffer penalties for disturbing the plant or its habitat, might bolster what has become its last stand. Poaching, and the loss of its fire-and-flood-dependent habitat to development pressures, have put the few wild patches on the brink of extinction.

Poachers dig up the wild plants to sell so often that naturalists won't talk specifically of where they are found. Most are reluctant even to discuss the poaching, afraid the mention will spur more.

The flytrap — with its eerie toothy spikes and the voracious snap of its petals snaring bugs — is the piranha of the plant world. The herb has been found only in a handful of spots in isolated coastal wetlands in North and South Carolina. It is so rare that it grows nowhere else.

The flytrap fascinates botanists because its animal-like "snap trap" ambush is the most extreme example of carnivorous plants. The horror-show behavior and appearance also has captured the popular imagination — leading to the cult-favorite horror comedy movie.

The plants are hardy enough to grow outdoors across much of the country. But somewhat mysteriously, they're found in the wild only along a 100-mile strip of coastal plain in the two states. They are one of those ultimate endemic plants.

Charleston landscaper Jeff Jackson of the S.C. Native Plant Society regularly prowls the coastal bottoms to record sightings of rare plants and has never seen the flytrap south of Horry County.

"It's definitely a botanical treasure," he said. "This thing only grows in a tiny area straddling the South Carolina-North Carolina border. No where else in the world."

The farthest south they appear to have ranged in the past is the Santee River, botanist Richard Porcher told The Post and Courier in 2009 during a previous look at the plant. Porcher is a professor emeritus with The Citadel.

"Why they never came across the Santee, nobody knows," he said then. "If you knew the answer to that you'd be a famous biologist."