Pitchers

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I think yesterday was the first time I saw a pitcher plant. Apparently they are considered rare in Singapore.... Since it's the first time I've seen them, I guess they are. Only 3 species can be found in Singapore (if I'm not wrong...)

So, for my biweekly ultra vigorous work out regime a.k.a ecology field trip, we went to Kent Ridge park!

But first we had to climb this flight of steps from hell. I think the people who designed this should be made to climb it.

Nepenthes gracilis

slender pitcher plant

Lowers pitcher

They are so named because of the shape. The above are the lower pitchers (lower meaning they are found on or near ground level) of the slender pitcher plant. Notice the colour... I think the colour differ from the intermediate pitchers to avoid predatory.

Nepenthes gracilis
slender pitcher plant

Upper pitcher

The slender pitcher plant is the most common pitcher plant. We did our "project" on this and turns out that the peristome (the opening) is mostly less than 2cm. We nearly died trying to find bigger ones, kena cheated by TA who said that large ones are easier to find >.<

Nepenthes rafflesiana

Raffles’ pitcher plant

Intermediate pitcher

Just like any other big organisms found in Singapore, these pitchers are named Raffles-something (think rafflesia).

Nepenthes rafflesiana

Raffles’ pitcher plant

Lower pitcher

Just like the slender pitchers, the intermediate and lower pitcher have some morphological differences. Notice that there are extra flaps called keels running down the side.

Nepenthes ampullaria

narrow lidded pitcher plant

These are the least common pitchers found in Singapore. We only saw one patch of it along the whole trail. The cluster together, there are 3 clusters in the picture above. As the clusters go higher up the more dried pitchers were observed in the cluster.

Nepenthes ampullaria

narrow lidded pitcher plant

I personally think that they look like the jug things that they use to heat up sauces. Notice the narrow lids sticking out from the peristomes.

Now that we have seen the different kinds of pitchers, let's look inside!

As you probably know, pitcher plants are carnivorous plant climbers. Though they are decidedly less exciting to watch than venus fly traps when capturing their prey, I'd have to say that they are definitely receiving their fair share of food. We poured out the fluid from the pitchers and here's what we got...

Full of ant parts. The one I poured out had mosquito larvae and some white wriggling worms in it. Apparently mosquitoes lay their eggs in them and for some reason the larvae can survive... and there's the wriggling white worm that were obviously alive, perhaps wriggling in agony.

Here's another one, but don't worry, no pitchers were harmed (I hope). We poured the fluid and the various insect parts back afterward.