My New Carnivorous Plants
Yesterday, I blogged about plants for water gardens and I promised to tell you about pitcher plants. John Courtney, greenhouse manager for Aquascapes Unlimited, was on my television show recently and brought some very interesting plant specimens, including ground dwelling pitcher plants. This species of pitcher plants normally grows in bog-like areas, but John showed how you can float them in a water garden by making a raft out of a slab of cork.
Pitcher plants usually live in nitrogen poor soils and to supplement this nitrogen deficiency, these remarkable plants evolved into carnivores that actually capture and consume insects and even small frogs and mammals! I find this fascinating and I am happy to add John’s gift to my collection of carnivorous plants.
-
- The plant produces a syrupy liquid in the bottom of the pitcher that attracts, drowns, and helps to metabolize potential prey.
-
- The walls are coated with a waxy substance, upon which the insect slips down.
-
- Ground dwelling pitcher plants like their feet wet and ankles dry and grow in bog-like conditions. The potted plant can float on the water nestled in a piece of cork bark. The pot is made of natural coconut coir fiber.
-
- Peering down the tube of the pitcher, Shaun spies an object.
-
- Goodness gracious! It’s a moth trapped within.
-
- The inside of the tubular leaf is lined with downward pointing hairs, which prevent the insect from climbing up and escaping.
-
- Three different varieties of pitcher plant Sarraceniaceae, the ground dwelling type of pitcher
-
- Shaun wanted to see just what this pitcher has been eating. Using a sharp blade, he sliced up the side of the pitcher.
-
- Insects are attracted to the bright colors of the flowers or hoods, and to nectar secretions and enticing odors produced by some species.
-
- I should think that with all of these insect carcasses, this plant was far from hungry!
-
- When an insect is trapped in the pitcher, digestive enzymes go to work consuming it.
-
- Carnivorous plants are fascinating because, even when they are not trapping insects, their unusual forms are intriguing.
-
- The colors and patterns of this flower, or hood, are extraordinary.
-
- This species of pitcher plant is know as Nepenthes. The pitchers form at the ends of tendrils that extend off of the leaves.
-
- Nepenthes pitchers are composed of a lid, a rim, and the hollow pitcher. The lid helps to keep rainwater from collecting inside.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
