Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants that have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher plants are formed by specialized leaves. The plants attract and drown their prey with nectar.
Sarracenia is a genus comprising 8 to 11 species of North American pitcher plants, commonly called trumpet pitchers. The genus belongs to the family Sarraceniaceae, which also contain the closely allied genera Darlingtonia and Heliamphora.
The genus Heliamphora contains 24 species of pitcher plants endemic to South America. The species are collectively known as sun pitchers, based on the mistaken notion that the heli of Heliamphora is from the Greek helios, meaning "sun". The name instead derives from the Greek helos, meaning "marsh", so a more accurate translation of their scientific name would be marsh pitcher plants. Species in the genus Heliamphora are carnivorous plants that consist of a modified leaf form that is fused into a tubular shape. They have evolved mechanisms to attract, trap, and kill insects; and control the amount of water in the pitcher. At least one species produces its own proteolytic enzymes that allows it to digest its prey without the help of symbiotic bacteria.
Darlingtonia californica, also called the California pitcher plant, cobra lily, or cobra plant, is a species of carnivorous plant. It is the sole member of the genus Darlingtonia in the family Sarraceniaceae. This pitcher plant is native to Northern California and Oregon, US, growing in bogs and seeps with cold running water usually on serpentine soils. This plant is designated as uncommon due to its rarity in the field.
Adrian Slack was a landscape gardener, plantsman, author and authority on carnivorous plants. He won 5 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, and authored two books: Carnivorous Plants and Insect-Eating Plants and How to Grow Them.
Aldrovanda is a genus of carnivorous plants encompassing one extant species and numerous extinct taxa. The genus is named in honor of the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi, the founder of the Botanical Garden of Bologna, Orto Botanico dell'Università di Bologna. Aldrovanda vesiculosa has been reported from scattered locations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Dr. Joachim Nerz is a German taxonomist and botanist specialising in the carnivorous plant genera Heliamphora and Nepenthes. Nerz has described several new species, mostly with Andreas Wistuba.
Drosera binata, commonly known as the forked sundew or fork-leaved sundew. It is a large, perennial sundew native to Australia and New Zealand. The specific epithet is Latin for "having pairs" - a reference to the leaves, which are dichotomously divided or forked.
Archaeamphora longicervia is a fossil plant species, the only member of the hypothetical genus Archaeamphora. Fossil material assigned to this taxon originates from the Yixian Formation of northeastern China, dated to the Early Cretaceous.
A protocarnivorous plant, according to some definitions, traps and kills insects or other animals but lacks the ability to either directly digest or absorb nutrients from its prey like a carnivorous plant. The morphological adaptations such as sticky trichomes or pitfall traps of protocarnivorous plants parallel the trap structures of confirmed carnivorous plants.
The International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS) is a non-profit organization founded in 1972. It is the International Cultivar Registration Authority for carnivorous plants. As of June 2011, the society had around 1400 members. The ICPS publishes a quarterly publication, the Carnivorous Plant Newsletter.
Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods, and occasionally small mammals and birds. They still generate all of their energy from photosynthesis. They have adapted to grow in waterlogged sunny places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs. They can be found on all continents except Antarctica, as well as many Pacific islands. In 1875, Charles Darwin published Insectivorous Plants, the first treatise to recognize the significance of carnivory in plants, describing years of painstaking research.
Alastair S. Robinson is a taxonomist and field botanist specialising in the carnivorous plant genus Nepenthes, for which he is regarded as a world authority. He is currently Manager Biodiversity Services at the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, where he oversees identification botany services, the Library and Artwork components of the State Botanical Collection, and the botanical journal Muelleria, a peer-reviewed scientific journal on botany published by the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, for which he is Editor in Chief.
Drosera glanduligera, commonly known as the pimpernel sundew or scarlet sundew, is a species of carnivorous plant endemic to southern Australia. It is an ephemeral annual plant that grows in the winter and flowers from August to November.
Das Taublatt is a twice-yearly German-language periodical based in Bochum and the official publication of Gesellschaft für Fleischfressende Pflanzen, a carnivorous plant society based in Germany. Typical articles include matters of horticultural interest, field reports, and new taxon descriptions. The journal was established in 1984. It publishes in full colour on glossy paper, with each issue numbering around 52 pages.
Planta Carnivora is a biannual periodical and the official publication of The Carnivorous Plant Society of the United Kingdom. Typical articles include matters of horticultural interest, field reports, and news of plant discoveries. The journal was established in 1980 and was called The Carnivorous Plant Society Journal until 2009; the following year it was combined with the society's newsletter to form Planta Carnivora. Issues are published in spring and autumn.
The Bulletin of the Australian Carnivorous Plant Society was a quarterly periodical and the official publication of the Australian Carnivorous Plant Society. Established in April 1982 as Bulletin / South Australian Carnivorous Plant Society, it continued publication until 2003. In a special general meeting of society members, in September 2004, it was decided the bulletin would cease publication. Typical articles included matters of horticultural interest, field reports, literature reviews, and scientific studies. The headquarters was in Adelaide.
Sarraceniaceae of South America is a monograph on the pitcher plants of the genus Heliamphora by Stewart McPherson, Andreas Wistuba, Andreas Fleischmann, and Joachim Nerz. It was published in September 2011 by Redfern Natural History Productions and covered all species known at the time.
The North American continent is home to a wide variety of carnivorous plant species. Species from seven genera are native to the continent, and three of these genera are found nowhere else on the planet.
Volume 8, issue 3 (September 1979)
