•Carnivorous plants from the order Caryophyllales co-opted plant phytohormones from the group of jasmonates for regulation of digestive enzyme activities. But not all genera of carnivorous plants are evenly explored and the digestive physiology of the Australian carnivorous rainbow plants of the genus Byblis (order: Lamiales) is only very poorly understood. •Here, we investigated the composition of digestive enzymes in the secreted fluid of Byblis filifolia using LC/MS, measured enzyme activities and analysed the phytohormone tissue level after experimental feeding on fruit flies and coronatine application. •Several hydrolytic digestive enzymes were identified in the secreted digestive fluid which were clearly upregulated in the presence of insect prey. But in contrast to sundew plant Drosera capensis, endogenous jasmonate did not accumulate and coronatine, a molecular mimic of jasmonates, was not able to trigger enzyme secretion. •Our results document that carnivorous plant B. filifolia is fully carnivorous with their own digestive enzyme repertoire. However in contrast to carnivorous genera from the order Caryophyllales, they are not under the control of jasmonates. This indicates that jasmonates have not been co-opted for regulation of digestive enzyme activity repeatedly during evolution of carnivorous plants.