While trimming back my pitcher plants (Nepenthes maxima), I usually check to see what kind of critters they catch in their traps. Usually its ants and other small insects & arthropods, and sometimes alien snails. But this trap (cut away) caught a young brown anole (Anolis sagrei). This is an upper trap and grow 8+ inches (20+ cm).Nepenthes traps are modified leaves designed hold liquid to capture prey by means of a pit fall method.See www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/7932060120/in/photostream/The brown anole, the victim seen here, is likely the main culprit in the near disappearance of the green anole (Anolis carolinensis) that many of us grew up with in Hawaii. Lizards are not native to the Hawaiian Islands, nor is Nepenthes.www.flickr.com/photos/50823119@N08/5644420432/
Great pitcher plantNepenthaceae (Tropical Pitcher Plant family)Native to New Guinea and Indonesia (the Maluku Islands & Sulawesi)Oahu, Hawaii, USA (Cultivated)Ripe female flowers & fruits
Great pitcher plantNepenthaceae (Tropical Pitcher Plant family)Native to New Guinea and Indonesia (the Maluku Islands & Sulawesi)Oahu, Hawaii, USA (Cultivated)Pitcher www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/7972551154/in/photolist-...Nepenthes are carnivorous plants. This one trapped a Greenhouse frog (Eleutherodactylus planirostris), related to Coqui frogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui)--both not native to Hawaii.
Great pitcher plantNepenthaceae (Tropical Pitcher Plant family)Native to New Guinea and Indonesia (the Maluku Islands & Sulawesi)Oahu, Hawaii, USA (Cultivated)Upper pitchers pictured here. Pitchers are modified leaves designed to capture prey and provide nutrients for the plant. Water and enzymes await the victim that falls into the pitcher.Lower picherswww.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/17020306128/in/photolist...Flower spikes & fruitwww.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/31226630324/in/photostream/
Great pitcher plantNepenthaceae (Tropical Pitcher Plant family)Native to New Guinea and Indonesia (the Maluku Islands & Sulawesi)Oahu, Hawaii, USA (Cultivated)Upper pitcher.nativeplants.hawaii.edu
Great pitcher plantNepenthaceae (Tropical pitcher plant family)Native to New Guinea and Indonesia (the Maluku Islands & Sulawesi)Oahu, Hawaii, USA (Cultivated)Pitcher www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/7972551154/in/photolist-...Nepenthes are carnivorous plants. This one trapped a Greenhouse frog (Eleutherodactylus planirostris), related to Coqui frogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui)--both not native to Hawaii.
Great pitcher plantNepenthaceae (Tropical Pitcher Plant family)Native to New Guinea and Indonesia (the Maluku Islands & Sulawesi)Oahu, Hawaii, USA (Cultivated)Upper pitchers.nativeplants.hawaii.edu
The largest Pitcher Plant, capable of digesting frogs and mice as well as insects. Widely planted but native only to the highest mountains of northeastern Borneo. Photo from Mt. Kinabalu.
