What Makes the Pitcher Plant Unique?
The pitcher plant has beautiful vase-shaped leaves. But behind this beauty lies a deadly secret: the pitcher plant is carnivorous, a meat eater. Does this Spark an idea?
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Habitat
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Pitcher plants are unique in that they thrive in nitrogen-poor soil conditions under which many plants could not. This is because they have adapted a special way of getting the extra nutrients that they need: capturing and devouring insects.
Leaves
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The pitcher plant has unique tubular leaves that look like a slender vase or pitcher. These leaves are what give the pitcher plant its name.
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Deadly Trap
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At the bottom of each "pitcher" is a tiny pool of fluid. This fluid consists of nectar and collected rainwater. This sweet-smelling concoction lures in the pitcher plant's favorite food, flies.
Caught
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Unlike some other carnivorous plants, such as the venous fly trap, the pitcher plant does not have "jaws" that snap shut to hold its prey. Instead, the walls of its leaves are lined with downward-pointing hairs and a waxy substance that prevents the fly from escaping.
DIgestion
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After the fly has drowned, special enzymes and bacteria in the fluid at the bottom of the pitcher begin to break down the fly. The nutrients are then absorbed through the plant walls.
Habitat
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Pitcher plants can be found in nitrogen-poor, boggy soils in the Americas, as well as various parts of Asia and Australia. Some plants are cultivated by botanists because of their large and spectacularly colored pitchers.
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