Pitcher Plant

Pitcher plants (or pitfall traps) are carnivorous plants with leaves adapted for trapping insects. These plants grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients such as nitrogen and phosporous. Each leaf forms a "pitcher", a tubular shaped enclosure, usually containing a liquid. The insects which are attracted by nectar and sometimes by the brilliant coloration are prevented from climbing out by deflexed bristles and is drowned in the fluid. The small bodies of liquid contained within the pitcher traps are called phytotelmata. They drown the insect, and the body of it is gradually dissolved. Through a mechanism of digestion, the prey items are converted into a solution of amino acids, peptides, phosphates, ammonium and urea, from which the plant obtains its mineral nutrition (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus).

Its leaves and structure are expertly formed to survive and regardless of its conditions, the pitcher plant remains resilient, adaptable, and beautiful. Many of its species and hybrids, are cultivated as novelties for their large and showy pendent pitchers.