Thursday, May 15, 2008
Sarracenia purpurea
My purple American pitcher plant is doing rather well. Unlike other American pitcher plants, S. purpurea collects rainwater in which to drown its prey. I have read that its digestion is aided by mosquito larvae and bacteria living in its pitchers. However, with no larvae and only the bacteria that came with it turned a large cricket into a translucent film on the top of the water in a short week. I first filled the single pitcher with water at the same time I fed it a cricket - a few days before the second following photo was taken.
Here it is at week 0, just planted from bare-root,
Week 4, digesting its first cricket - it was not until it was fed that the faintly darker green veining became strikingly purple and pronounced,
Today, a bit shy of week 8,
Labels: carnivorous plants, gardening, photos
// posted by Erik @ 5/15/2008 07:57:00 PM
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