The Breeze February 2020

An Artist Paints A Pitcher
by R. S. Perry
What could be more fun for an artist than painting those weird, carnivorous plants called “pitcher plants” some
of which can be found in the coastal Lowcountry wetlands of South Carolina! The leaves of these plants look
like pitchers or trumpets and form deadly traps for unsuspecting insects. One of the most common pitcher
plants in South Carolina is called Sarracenia, however, there are over 500 species of other carnivorous plants in
North America and other parts of the world.
Some of the carnivorous plants are not pitcher plants. One of the most famous, the Venus Fly Trap, is also
native to South Carolina. It is among the top ten most poisonous plants but most other species of carnivorous
plants are thought to be non-toxic. However, to be safe, don’t include any in your salad!
Pitcher plants have a rank and stinky smell that attracts insects who light on the lips of its leaves. The insects
slide down the plant’s slick throat where they generate an enzyme and are digested, allowing the plants to
obtain such nutrients as nitrogen and phosphorus. The top of most pitcher plants have a lid called the operculum
to keep out the rainwater which could dilute the digestive juices inside the plant’s “stomach.”
Pitcher plants will sometimes eat mosquitoes but they generally attract flies, ants, spiders, beetles and moths.
The largest of one type of pitcher plant, known as Nepenthes Rajah, can capture lizards, frogs, rodents and
other vermin. It is a native of Malaysian Borneo and its pitchers have been measured at over 16 inches long!
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