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garyfla_gw

Water in Neps

19 years ago

Hi

have keept a Nep. for several years which only gets small pichers ansd i keep it outside but apparently I've never paid attention until now lol

In April i bought another species (lost the tag on the way Home .lol) Had pitchers around 4 inches maybe 2 inches wide. Hung it in my shadehouse where it immediately began to grow .The latest is 12 inches long and 3.5 wide. Obviously one of the larger growers lol Anyway after several heavy rains it occ ured to me that the pitcher would be VERY heavy when it filled with water.

Checked it and the liquid level is very close to where it was before the rain. Rained again yesterday even heavier

Yet there is still no more liquid .How is it getting out of the pitcher?? Can'y find any holes and was unable to see it actually dripping . I seriously had never thought about this on my other type but they're doing the same.

How does this work ?? Thanks gary

Comments (7)

  • 19 years ago

    its not that its not getting out of the pitchers, but more that its not getting into the pitchers
    they have a "top" that prevents exess water from entering
    sometimes it does get into the pitcher but not too often

  • 19 years ago

    I wondered the same thing and braved a storm about a week ago to find out. For mine, Ventrata and Miranda, the hoods keep most of the rain water out. There are those that get full of water and the leaf sags and the pitcher has a tendency to tilt under the leaf. The rainwater evaporates out or whatever and fluid goes back to its normal level, and next time, the leaf is deflecting water as well as the hood.

    The converse I have noticed on Judith Finn. Since I underwater her fairly consistently, I've noticed the first thing to shrivel are the pitcher hoods. A few days later the leaves begin to wilt, but I suspect the hoods shrivel back to allow for maximum water collection. The leaves perk back up with a thorough watering, but not the hoods.
    Good Luck
    Bob

  • 19 years ago

    hi
    Thanks for the info.. Figured there must be an explanation feel certain it rains where they come from. i suspect the pitcher would easily hold a pint.
    One more question . Would the size of these ptchers give me a clue as to what species it is.? Everything about it is much larger than the Alata that I'm familiar with.
    Surely they won't get much larger than 3.5 x12?? had no idea any of them got this large.lol
    Am I in any danger,wife ,cat neighborhood kids?? lol gary

  • 19 years ago

    Actually, most Nepenthes live around Malaysia and the Phillipines and get rained on almost every day. Most grow lids over the pithcer to keep rain water out. If any water gets in, the plant absorbs it so that the digestive enzymes (chitinase and peptides) and preservatives (benzoic acid) that the pitcher produces will not be diluted. That indicates that Nepenthes really do not like water in the pitchers since they try so hard to get rid of it when people pour it in intentionally.

    In any case, N. rajah produces the largest overall brownish purple pitchers at just over a foot tall and about 8 inches wide. Such pitchers can contain 2-3 liters of digestive fluid and have been found with shrews, lizards, snakes, rats, and frogs digesting inside.

  • 19 years ago

    Thanks
    Will check the N.rajah out. it's developing another very large pitsher on the opposite side . and has statred to vine.
    I have a tree Schizolobium parahybum. which secretes a very sticky resin which actually catches and holds lizards
    Have been unable to find any thing about this habit . Seems to act as a bug repellant also. Have never found it listed among Cp's though. The resin is so strong you can pull the limbs off the lizard before it lets go. If it's eating the lizard certainly not in the way most carniverous plants do.
    The plant is not rare yet have not found a single mention of this habit, which to me is one of the most interesting characteristics. Oh well, Will check that N.rajah out gary

  • 19 years ago

    There are quite a few plants that produce resins and substances that trap animals and insects for various purposes. Carnivorous plants are marked by a particular set of capabilities.

    1. Ability to attract it's prey through scent, nectar, and coloration. Something derived from it's ability to attract pollinators.

    2. Ability to trap prey with static or mobile traps derived from quick growth, like the mimosas have in response to touch, or adapted from leaf patterns that were more difficult for prey to escape, like some flowers that produce interlocking patterns to keep pollinators inside longer to ensure pollination.

    3. Ability to produce their own digestive enzymes with or without bacterial assitance. Even the Purple Pitcher Plant, a Sarracenia that uses rain water and bacterial action to help it kill and break down prey produces some digestive enzyme on it's own.

    There are some plants, like Roridula, that can capture insects, but not digest them. Such plants sometimes use symbiotic relationships to aid in breaking down the prey, like beetles that eat the trapped insects and then leave droppings on the plant leaves as fertilizer. They would not be true carnivores, but are interesting nontheless.

    There is actually a mythical plant that is supposed to live in South America that natives there designate as an "evil spirit tree." Supposedly it grows in an area where there is no other vegitation under it for a radius and often bones are found in the soil around it's trunk. It is purported that the tree drops sap from it's leaves that is a contact poison that can kill animals and people that remain under the tree for too long. The result is a rotting, fertilizer rich loam for the plant's roots. I have seen stories of this plant in a couple of different sources, but nothing definitive, so it is just a myth so far.

    The N. rajah is a finicky plant, but if you can give it the temperature and humidity it demands, it can be grown. It is one of the most demanding and temperamental of the Nepenthes.

  • 19 years ago

    hi
    Well whatever it it's definitely not rajah It would be long gone in the florida heat lol My wife is the one actually who bought it and only gave 10 bucks for it . Even more evidense it is not raja lol i think I have it narrowed down to either truncata or rafflesiana. though it really doesn't look like the pix. Almost no green on the traps and lots of hairs on the seam up the front. I'm sure I can confine my search to lowland.s.
    The Schizy, as I call it, produces the resin on the trunk not the leaves . It seems to trap only lizards, bugs even ants avoid it . Have found bodies with the limbs still attached when birds have pulled off the bodies. The tree does not branch grows straight up like a palm. but has a woody trunk and compound leaves It is now approaching 20 feet tall but the crown was ripped off during a storm. I've heard they will branch if necessary but so far zilch lol
    The tree is grown commercially in Brazil for plywood products yet not one of these sites even mention the "adhesive".
    There are trees in the Pivonia family called "bird catcher trees " becaause they produce a sticky fluid strong enough to actually hold the bird The ancient Hawaiians
    cultivated them to catch birds to make those fantastic cloaks. Apparently they use the bodies as fertilizer for seeds.
    Anyway thanks for the info gary

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