March 8, 2013
Not cute. Yes, gross. But, hey, we shouldn’t discriminate when it comes to the bizarre adaptations of the plant world—not everything can be rabbits munching carrots! In some twisted fashion, I suppose this is the closest we’ll get to justifying the average toddler’s fear of being eaten by the toilet. —MN ichthyologist: Pitcher Plant Symbiosis The carnivorous plant Nepenthes rajah has developed a mutualistic relationship with mountain treeshrews. The treeshrews perch themselves on the rim of the trap and eat the nectar produced on the lid. As it feeds, it defecates into the basin. Pitcher plants get nutrients from digesting trapped insects, and in this case shrew droppings. This is an adaptation to the nutrient poor soils which they grow in. Chi’en Lee on Wikipedia Commons

Not cute. Yes, gross. But, hey, we shouldn’t discriminate when it comes to the bizarre adaptations of the plant world—not everything can be rabbits munching carrots! In some twisted fashion, I suppose this is the closest we’ll get to justifying the average toddler’s fear of being eaten by the toilet. —MN

ichthyologist:

Pitcher Plant Symbiosis

The carnivorous plant Nepenthes rajah has developed a mutualistic relationship with mountain treeshrews.

The treeshrews perch themselves on the rim of the trap and eat the nectar produced on the lid. As it feeds, it defecates into the basin.

Pitcher plants get nutrients from digesting trapped insects, and in this case shrew droppings. This is an adaptation to the nutrient poor soils which they grow in.

Chi’en Lee on Wikipedia Commons

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3:20pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZV1L5yfo_4bN
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(Notes: 700)
  
Filed under: shrew plants carnivorous mutualistic nature pitcher plant botany 
June 14, 2012
The Pitcher Plant Project Ann passed this one my way and I’ve been fanboying out ever since. Not only is Rob’s site dedicated to the glorification of that most wonderfully sadistic of leafy things—the pitcher plant—but it boasts top notch photographs of the many varieties he brings up himself. He even sells a few now and then. As someone who can’t help but want to fill his desk with these things, I’m enchanted. Here’s to Rob and all the cottage operations built on the terracotta of obsession. —MN

The Pitcher Plant Project

Ann passed this one my way and I’ve been fanboying out ever since. Not only is Rob’s site dedicated to the glorification of that most wonderfully sadistic of leafy things—the pitcher plant—but it boasts top notch photographs of the many varieties he brings up himself. He even sells a few now and then.

As someone who can’t help but want to fill his desk with these things, I’m enchanted. Here’s to Rob and all the cottage operations built on the terracotta of obsession. —MN

11:59am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZV1L5yNNn5LP
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(Notes: 29)
  
Filed under: pitcher plant gardening Pitcher Plant Project sarracenia 
May 26, 2012
Grubstreet Called the Feed Me Seymour Best in Show, it’s the creation of bartender (and newly announced Tales of the Cocktail International Bartender of the Year finalist) Alex Kratena, and is made from jasmine-infused dry sherry, Japanese plum and shochu liqueur, mandarin bitters, orange flower water, and simple syrup. Sweet spirit of all things deliciously cocktailed, this is the end-all, be-all of potent potables. Such inspiration, such horticultural…resourcefulness. It’s a pitcher plant that gets you tipsy. Given the concoction mixed within, not to mention the all-too-short-lived container containing it, I imagine you’d pay top dollar for something this inventive. But isn’t it worth it, even with the very real threat of choking down the half-dissolved remains of some horse fly or other gone unseen at the bottom of the carnivorous “glass”? —MN

Grubstreet

Called the Feed Me Seymour Best in Show, it’s the creation of bartender (and newly announced Tales of the Cocktail International Bartender of the Year finalist) Alex Kratena, and is made from jasmine-infused dry sherry, Japanese plum and shochu liqueur, mandarin bitters, orange flower water, and simple syrup.

Sweet spirit of all things deliciously cocktailed, this is the end-all, be-all of potent potables. Such inspiration, such horticultural…resourcefulness. It’s a pitcher plant that gets you tipsy.

Given the concoction mixed within, not to mention the all-too-short-lived container containing it, I imagine you’d pay top dollar for something this inventive. But isn’t it worth it, even with the very real threat of choking down the half-dissolved remains of some horse fly or other gone unseen at the bottom of the carnivorous “glass”? —MN

11:47am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZV1L5yMAfuAF
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(Notes: 41)
  
Filed under: pitcher plant carnivorous cocktail Best in Show 
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