Pitcher Plants
A vibrant display of blooming pitcher plants at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. The plant attracts its insect prey with secretions from extrafloral nectaries on the lip of the pitcher leaves, as well as a combination of the leaves' color and scent. Slippery footing at the pitcher's rim, aided in at least one species by a narcotic drug lacing the nectar, causes insects to fall inside, where they die and are digested by the plant with proteases and other enzymes.
I've been fascinated by these carnivorous plants with their colorful "pitchers" but had never seen the plants in bloom.
Hope you are enjoying a lovely week. Thank you all for your visits, comments, awards and faves -- I appreciate them all.
© Melissa Post 2016
Pitcher Plants
A vibrant display of blooming pitcher plants at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. The plant attracts its insect prey with secretions from extrafloral nectaries on the lip of the pitcher leaves, as well as a combination of the leaves' color and scent. Slippery footing at the pitcher's rim, aided in at least one species by a narcotic drug lacing the nectar, causes insects to fall inside, where they die and are digested by the plant with proteases and other enzymes.
I've been fascinated by these carnivorous plants with their colorful "pitchers" but had never seen the plants in bloom.
Hope you are enjoying a lovely week. Thank you all for your visits, comments, awards and faves -- I appreciate them all.
© Melissa Post 2016