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Pitcher_Plants

Pitcher plants located in the wildflower preserve on the UNCW campus. Pitcher plants typically grow in soils that are nitrogen poor and instead of competing with the surrounding vegetation for the soil nutrients they evolved to eat insects to get nitrogen. They do this by luring insects with a sweet liquid and when an insect lands on the inside of the plant it slips down into the plants and cannot get out because the walls are smooth and lined with hairs pointing downwards. The insect then dies and rots releasing nitrogen into the liquid that is then absorbed. This adaptation the plant to survive without having to directly compete with the vegetation around it for nitrogen.

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Uploaded on February 23, 2018
Taken on February 22, 2018