The pitcher plant might not be as well known as the venus fly trap, but this carnivorous plant is just as carnivorous – perhaps even more so.
Wikimedia CommonsThe Nepenthes rajah , also know as the pitcher plant .
As far as works go , unless you ’re a phytologist , you ’re not going to sleep with many alien plant metal money off the top of your head . You may , however , greet some of the more strange one , such as thecorpse flower , a giant flower that smells like rot shape as it blossom ; or the venus fly trap , a lank plant hump for shoot fly front out of the air and chowing down on them .
There is , however , one exotic plant that is really the clobber of nightmare for many a small puppet . Like the venus fly gob , it ’s a carnivorous industrial plant , and like the corpse flower , it ’s a with child one . This one is so large , though , that it can feed rodents whole . It ’s colloquially hump as the mound flora , of which there are several different varieties . Perhaps the best known isNepenthes rajah .
Wikimedia CommonsThe Nepenthes rajah, also known as the pitcher plant.
What Does A Pitcher Plant Look Like?
Wikimedia CommonsA twirler plant with a partly - digested lizard inside .
Though its name is anything but intimidating , Nepenthes rajahpacks a punch .
stand between 16 and 20 inches marvellous , the plant is n’t immediately as ferocious looking as it really is . The shank contains several large green leaves , and a large reddened empty protrusion at the bottom – the hurler – which is covered by a leaf that acts as a lid . The pitchers usually hang on the ground , though in a few rare species , the pitcher is suspended above the leaves .
Wikimedia CommonsA pitcher plant with a partially-digested lizard inside.
The lid - folio acts as a masking to stop rain from entering the pitcher and contaminating the contents . The pitcher are covered in farsighted fringed annexe - similar filaments that do as guides for the industrial plant ’s fair game , to assist it regain the oral cavity of the hurler .
TheNepenthes rajahpitcher itself is the primary attractor of the plant . approximately five inch in diameter and at least twice as long , the pitcher can hold up to 2.5 litre of digestive fluid , a clear , water - alike substance . The rim of the rima oris is covered in pricker that point inward , which makes fall into the industrial plant slowly , but climbing out middling hard .
That is , if the quarry is able to climb out at all . In addition to the spines and slippery wall of the ewer , the digestive fluid is not easy to run . Within instant the fluid will immobilize the prey , and slowly begin to dissolve its flesh .
Wikimedia CommonsThe pitcher plant with a mountain treeshrew eating its nectar.
So, What Does A Pitcher Plant Eat?
Wikimedia CommonsThe mound plant with a mountain treeshrew eating its ambrosia .
Though its gap is relatively small , the ewer flora will feed just about anything that lessen into it . Its prey of choice is usually insects , as those are most common in its warm hobo camp habitat . on occasion it will devour larger invertebrates such as slugs and tarantulas , but the real nightmares are the other thing that have been found in the ewer plant ’s pitcher .
Occasionally , scientists have found the cadaver of declamatory craniate , such as snakes , frogs , and small lizards . They ’ve also found theremains of mice and rats , some of them almost as large as the industrial plant itself .
There is , however , one little mammal that is good from the pitcher flora . The mickle treeshrew , a small mouse - like creature , has managed to constitute a symbiotic relationship with the hurler plant over time , that benefit the both of them – and maintain the treeshrew safe from becoming dinner party .
While the pitcher holds the digestive fluids , the lid of the pitcher holds a sweet nectar which the mountain treeshrew eats . Coincidentally , the aloofness from the oral fissure of theNepenthes rajahpitcher to the part of the lid that loose the nectar is exactly the duration of a mountain treeshrew ’s physical structure , making them passing well equipped to get to it .
While the termagant profit from the ambrosia , the pitcherful plant gain from the shrew as well . As the mountain treeshrew eats , it make into the pitcher of the industrial plant . While that may seem like the accurate opposite of what the plant would desire , the shrew feces really provide the plant with the atomic number 7 that it needs to live , make their human relationship reciprocally beneficial .
Other species of pitcher works have similar relationships with similar small rodents .
Next , check out theseother carnivorous plantsyou do n’t want to mess with . Then , check out these less carnivorous , but still interesting , plantsyou’ve beget to see .
