When you think of carnivorous plants, Venus flytraps probably come to mind first. Yet pitcher plants are the largest group of carnivorous plants, with most belonging to the genus sarracenia. Remarkably, they trap insects without any moving parts.

The pitcher-like part of the plant is formed from a specialized, cylindrical leaf. Lured by sweet nectar, insects must traverse the slippery, vertical neck of the pitcher to reach it. They inevitably fall to their deaths in the water at the bottom of the pitcher, where they either drown or die from exhaustion trying to escape. Downward pointing hairs inside the pitcher also prevent insects from climbing out. Digestive enzymes inside the pitcher liquefy insects so the nutrients can be absorbed into the leaf. Anything can fall into the pitcher, including mice and toads if the pitcher is large enough, but mainly pitcher plants feast on ants, flies, wasps, bees, beetles, slugs and snails.

Aside from being quite colorful, the hood or lid of the pitcher plant prevents rain from filling it. Pitcher plants grow from rhizomes; they are dormant in winter and produce an umbrella-like bloom in spring.

When I peeked inside the pitcher plants, I discovered piles of dead flies. That got me to thinking how much I would enjoy having these natural fly catchers in my garden. However, it would be a bit challenging to recreate the special growing requirements of pitcher plants. They like moist areas such as swamps, lake edges, riverbanks, boggy pine forests and other low-lying areas. These environments have acidic soil lacking in nutrients, which is the reason the plants have evolved to trap insects—to digest nitrates and phosphates not found in the soil.

Although pitcher plants are lethal to insects, we humans are pushing these interesting plants toward extinction. The natural habitat of pitcher plants has drastically declined with the draining and development of wetlands and overuse of ground water that lowers water tables. The entire genus sarracenia is endangered. Should you ever attempt to grow pitcher plants, be sure they were propagated in a nursery, not collected from the wild. If you’d like to know more about pitcher plants, read an excellent article by Dennis Carey and Tony Avent titled "Sarracenia—The North American Pitcher Plant".