Pitcher plant

The pitcher plants of Asia, the Nepenthes, grow pitchers from the ends of the leaves

The pitcher plants of America, the Sarracenia, grow pitchers up from the roots

A pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant (also called as Insectivorous plant). Carnivorous plants are plants that eat insects and other small animals. Carnivorous plants grow in soil that has little nitrogen. All living things must have nitrogen. Carnivorous plants get nitrogen from the insects they eat.

The pitcher of the pitcher plant is actually a modified leaf. The apex of the leaf is always the lid. Pitcher plants catch (get) insects in a cup of liquid. The walls of the cup make nectar (sweet liquid). The nectar attracts insects. When an insect lands on the wall, it falls down into the liquid. The insect cannot get out of the cup because the walls are smooth and slippery and the walls have hairs pointing down.

After the insect is dead, its body rots. Rotting releases (lets loose) the nitrogen from the insect's body. The nitrogen then goes into the liquid and the plant takes in the nitrogen from the liquid.

Pitcher Plant Media

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  Pitcher of Nepenthes distillatoria. A: Honey-gland from attractive surface of lid. B: Digestive fluid from interior of pitcher, in pocket-like depression of epidermis, opening downwards. C: Transverse section of the same.

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  Scanning electron micrograph of a pitcher's inner surface