The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture
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MEAT-EATING PLANTS?
Did you know that… the California Pitcher Plant (Darlingtonia californica) is insectivorous, meaning it gets part of its sustenance from live prey? The “modified leaves, 8 inches to 2 feet long…widen upward in trumpet fashion and end in a sinister-looking broad hood from which hangs a two-lobed crimson and green appendage, the whole fancifully suggesting the head of a cobra. The hood, translucent with opaque spots, admits filtered light to the interior of the pitcher which is partially filled with a digestive fluid usually containing, in various stages of decay, the bodies of unwary insects attracted by the carrion odor.”
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Regarding the the California Pitcher Plant (Darlingtonia californica); if I am correct we have a few in the greenhouse on campus. They are a very beautiful but odd plant. I was so interested in the plant that I went into the greenhouse and got stuck. The greenhouse floor is all very small pebbles kand the more I tried to get out the deeper I sunk; but I did get to see the plant up close allowing me to see the odd beauty it does possess.
I do wish the plant could be on desplay or be put in a place within the greenhouse that all could enjoy the plants.
In most cases I would say to stop and smell the flowers but with the Pitcher plant the essence of the flower is not so good; so experiencing the plant from afar is a good idea.
Love all plant!