Ginormous pitcher plant at the National Conservatory

This is an impressive specimen of a natural hybrid of the Hooded Pitcher Plant (S. minor) and the Parrot Pitcher Plant (S. psittacina) from the Apalachicola National Forest.

i dont care what any local says.. these guys have me in knots ;)

pitcher plants... the carnivorous little devils who sweetly seduce

unwitting insects etc down their hollow mouths into a digestive

acid from which they disentigrate and are consumed. yes... those

guys..... delightful little devils.

i

have

missed

them.

they grow like weeds in the bogs of Mississippi springtime.

most carnivorous plants do grow in bogs... (anywhere where

the soil is lacking sufficent nitrogen...namely bogs and swamps)

without the proper nitrogonous nutrients they have harnessed that

cunning thing called evolution and modified their leaves to obtain

nitrogen from other resources (animals & insects containing this nitrogen)

it's just brilliant. i am such a fucking nerd , i know. but hats off to

these guys. for reals.

they make me a lil mental.

I lit the leaves from behind with a flash in order to accentuate the pattern.

Yellow Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia flava) was the largest of the three species of pitcher plants that I photographed at the Green Swamp near Wilmington, North Carolina.

Seed grown clone recevied from Jacob Farin. Jacob coined the term "Juju lips" which is Hawaiian slang for large lips. This particular clone has a deep pronounced lip, and gets more color over time. This is a photo of a more recent opened pitcher.

And just above, a Venus fly trap. I didn't think they'd grow as well as they do in Ohio, but the Franklin Park Conservatory seems to do quite well with them -- these are outside, not indoors!