Pitcher Plants are strange and clever plants. They are death traps!
Pitcher plants live in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, Australia and Madagascar.
Pitcher plants are pretty and colourful like red and yellow. They are carnivorous which means that they eat animals. They eat insects, mice, lizards, frogs, birds and snakes.
The pitcher (looks like a jug or pitcher) on the plant has a smell to attract or trick the insects. When an insect lands on the rim of one of the pitchers, it slips down inside. It can’t get out because of the sticky hairs inside. The insect drowns in acid and the pitcher plant eats it up.
The pitcher also has a lid which stops the rain getting in when it is full of acid. When the pitcher dies, the lid falls off and it can fill up with water. One pitcher can hold ½ gallon water. Some can hold up to 2 gallons. Tadpoles can turn to frogs in there and monkeys can drink out of it. Sometimes Pitcher Plants are called Monkey Cups.