An Orchestra of Pitchers: a Symphony of Death
Published by There are plants that have evolved to be eaters of living organisms, the Carnivorous plants. Numerous species using different techniques but my favorites are the pitcher plants. These come in a staggering variety of sizes, shapes and colors. Often the best of these can be purchased at your local floral shop or dealer.
Many Players With But One Tune: The Death March
These don’t look scary to you? Imagine being a bug with the capacity to understand the danger and you were flying low over a field of open, hungry screeching baby robin beaks. -Or the open maws of carnivorous plants. Its the same thing. Yeah, -scared now? If you were a bug, these plants could eat you.
Pitcher Plants are my favorite of the carnivorous plant varieties. Their colors and variety are astounding. Most pitcher plants employ a ‘pitfall trap’ method whereby insects or even possibly a small amphibian either by lure or by accident, slip and fall into the vessel. There, they are unable to climb out due to either the vertical walls being too slippery, or grooved in such a way to make climbing out difficult or more commonly, the inside of the vessel has downward pointing hair.
The most accepted belief is that Pitcher Plants evolved from various sorts of pitfall trap plants that employ rolled or tubular leaves, with evolution favoring the ones with the deepest cupped leaves. I believe that bromeliads employ a simple ‘pitfall trap’ in that they retain a pool of standing water and anything that falls in and decays, provides some nutrients to the plant. It is possible that pitcher plants evolved from this manner, getting better and improving upon the design until it reached perfection.
Attractive and Alluring
Insects that fall prey to this passive system of predation eventually drown in the digestive juices and will be dissolved and absorbed by the plant. Enzymes from the plant itself and bacterial action may also assist several varieties of Pitcher plants in this feat. Some varieties of these plants have a mutualistic relationship with the larvae of certain insects which aid to break-down the insects, and the pitcher benefits from that as well as the excreta from the insect.
The insects that are trapped are reduced to amino acids, phosphates, ammonium, peptides and urea, which is lacking in the poor soils the in which the pitcher plants grow. Pitcher plants tend to grow in soils that are too mineral deprived or acidic for most other plants to grow, so often they are the predominate plants in that area. You tend to find them in vast numbers, packed closely and devoid of most any other kinds of plants.
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On December 20, 2008 at 11:37 am
I used to have a venus fly trap but didn’t know there were so many different kinds of bug eating plants. Great read and fantastic pictures….
On December 20, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Extremely interesting and should help raise knowledge of these plants. You have so many articles and you seem to be knowlegable in every subject you write about. I was wondering do you already know all of this or do you have to research each article before writing it?
On December 20, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I enjoyed this, thanks for sharing, I don’t see them over here in Cyprus, I did have a venus fly trap in UK and could really do with one over here!
On December 20, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Very facinating. Who would thin such beautiful plants were so destuctive! (smile). Thanks for sharing.
On December 20, 2008 at 4:27 pm
oops! Who would THINK
On December 20, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Another great article Stickman. I dare you to write an article about the Zygomaturus – with images
j
On December 20, 2008 at 6:37 pm
You have an interesting and educational article here. Your pictures are beautiful to be so sinister. Great work.
On December 21, 2008 at 1:48 pm
“Cryptozoology” is an interest of mine. And Zygomaturus disappeared fairly recently (19,000 years ago maybe?) It would be an interesting study.
You know, -just off the east coast of Canada is a small island where they have found remains of miniature mastodons, they were pony sized! Apparently they wandered across the ice onto an island as the last Great Ice sheet was receding, leaving them stranded. They did not die-off, but adapted to the reduced territory and becoming ’smaller’. Instead of being elephant-sized like their contemporaries, they became smaller. About the size of ponies. This can happen in drastic situations in as little as 40 or 50 generations of becoming ‘water-locked’ or otherwise ‘isolated’ species. But, eventually, they did become extinct. Here is the really scary kicker… it is believed that the last mini-Mastodons of this isolated island may have died off as recently as just 500 years ago!! I mean, like, Christopher Columbus and his crew had they landed way north, could/would have witnessed them!! This is OMG so recently ago! It begs the question …ARE THERE ANY MORE still alive out there, in some isolated valley or plateau, maybe just a dozen or fewer … waiting to be discovered! Or some other animal. -Reports of the ‘thunderbird’ still occur, -a large ‘bird-like’ creature that somewhat resembles a teradactyl…
-So many topics to write about… so little time! So little time!
On December 21, 2008 at 8:42 pm
if i were a bug… it’s an attractive place to die.
On June 3, 2009 at 8:37 am
Great way to get rid of some of those little buggers.. Great article