What Is Inside a Pitcher Plant

Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which 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.

What's inside a pitcher plant?

Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which 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.

What chemical is in a pitcher plant?

Hatcher and colleagues say that plumbagin, as found on the rims of the pitcher plants, is found in every genus of the Nepenthales, regardless of whether the plant has a pitcher trap or not. They argue that in digestion plumbagin protects the plant from pathogens.