Catching Cup Flower. Sarracenia purpurea, Purple Pitcher Plant, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Pitcher Plants are, of course, carnivorous. Insects attracted by the sweet-edged pitchers fall in and are drowned in the digestive pool at the bottom. There the Plant - which produces far too little in enzymes for digestion itself - is helped commensally by tiny invertebrates such as the larvae of mosquitoes and midges; and by various bacteria and protozoa. The resulting stew is the life's blood, so to speak, of our Pitcher Plant.
The photo shows none of this. Here rather is a Sarracenia flower. Those flowers stand high about the Pitchers and one might think pollinating insects could inadvertently fall into one, intent as they are on gathering proteins from the pollen and nectar. You've probably seen the way many pollinators seem to tumble around. To prevent such a Fall, the flower of the Pitcher Plant has ingenuously developed a kind of Catching Cup - clearly visible in the photo - just under its pistil and stamens. Thus the Plant has the best of two worlds: it safely attracts insects for the pollination of its flowers and others yet for its Pitcher for food.
Catching Cup Flower. Sarracenia purpurea, Purple Pitcher Plant, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Pitcher Plants are, of course, carnivorous. Insects attracted by the sweet-edged pitchers fall in and are drowned in the digestive pool at the bottom. There the Plant - which produces far too little in enzymes for digestion itself - is helped commensally by tiny invertebrates such as the larvae of mosquitoes and midges; and by various bacteria and protozoa. The resulting stew is the life's blood, so to speak, of our Pitcher Plant.
The photo shows none of this. Here rather is a Sarracenia flower. Those flowers stand high about the Pitchers and one might think pollinating insects could inadvertently fall into one, intent as they are on gathering proteins from the pollen and nectar. You've probably seen the way many pollinators seem to tumble around. To prevent such a Fall, the flower of the Pitcher Plant has ingenuously developed a kind of Catching Cup - clearly visible in the photo - just under its pistil and stamens. Thus the Plant has the best of two worlds: it safely attracts insects for the pollination of its flowers and others yet for its Pitcher for food.