Fantastic and Unique Shapes of Pitcher Plants

Pitcher plants are flesh-eating or carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled

with liquid known as a pitfall trap. They come in different colors and shapes.

1. Toilet Bowl-shaped: Nepenthes jamban

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This toilet bowl-shaped tropical pitcher plant is native to Sumatra. Its formal name ‘jamban’ means “toilet” in

Indonesian language and refers to the shape of the pitchers.

2. Trumpet-shaped: Sarracenia leucophylla

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The common name of this lovely pitcher plant is White Pitcher Plant. It is endemic to the New World and inhabits

moist and low-nutrient longleaf pine savannas along the US Gulf Coast. It produces crimson flowers and is one of

the largest and showiest Sarracenia species, which has made it vulnerable to poachers as well as interest from

the floral trade, in which the cut autumn pitchers often find use in arrangements.

3. Flask-shaped: Nepenthes ampullaria

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This plant that resembles a typical or common household pitcher is informally called the Flask-Shaped Pitcher-

Plant, a very distinctive and widespread species of Nepenthes. It can be found in Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand,

peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Maluku Islands and New Guinea.

4. Trumpet-shaped: Sarracenia oreophila

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The common name of this carnivorous plant is Green Pitcher Plant. Like all other Sarracenia, it is endemic to the

New World and is the most endangered of all Sarracenia species. Its range limited to a handful of sites in northern

Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina.

5. Phallus-shaped: Nepenthes edwardsiana

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This tropical pitcher plant is called Splendid Pitcher-Plant. It is native to Mount Kinabalu and Mount Tambuyukon

in Sabah, Malaysia. It is regarded by many as the most spectacular of all Nepenthes, producing some of the

largest pitchers and the most highly developed peristome ribs of any species in the genus.

6. Side Saddle-shaped: Sarracenia purpurea

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This beautiful and unique pitcher plant is commonly known as the Purple Pitcher Plant or Side-saddle Flower. It

can be found in the entire eastern seaboard of the US, the Great Lakes and south eastern Canada. It is the most

common and broadly distributed pitcher plant that inhabits cold temperate climates.

7. Cobra-shaped: Darlingtonia californica

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This flesh-eating plant is called the California Pitcher Plant and also known as Cobra Lily or Cobra Plant. It is

endemic to Northern California and Oregon. It grows in bogs and seeps with cold running water. This plant is

designated as uncommon due to its rarity in the field.

8. Prow-shaped: Nepenthes sp. Phanga Nga

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This tropical pitcher plant is informally named Nepenthes globosa and is recorded from a single undisclosed

Andaman Sea island off Phang Nga and from the mainland near the city of Trang. In the horticultural trade, N. sp.

Phanga Nga is popularly known as Nepenthes sp. Viking after the resemblance the pitchers bear to the prow of a

Viking ship.

9. Funnel-shaped: Heliamphora folliculata

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This funnel-shaped species of pitcher plant is native to the Aparaman group of tepuis in Venezuela. This pretty

carnivorous plant grows on all four mountains: Aparaman Tepui, Murosipan Tepui, Tereke Tepui and

Kamakeiwaran Tepui.

10. Bell-shaped: Nepenthes campanulata

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One of the most unique species of Nepenthes is Bell-Shaped Pitcher-Plant. It is native to Borneo and was in fact

considered extinct since 11983 due to forest fires. It was rediscovered in 1997, several hundred kilometers from

the type locality.

11. Fang-shaped: Nepenthes bicalcarata

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This peculiar but beautiful species of carnivorous tropical pitcher plant is endemic to Borneo. It is commonly called

as the Fanged Pitcher-Plant.

12. Bell-shaped: Nepenthes attenboroughii

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This flesh-eating pitcher plant is a mountain species named after the celebrated broadcaster and naturalist, Sir

David Attenborough, who is a keen enthusiast of the genus. This lovely-looking species is characterized by its

large and distinctive bell-shaped lower and upper pitchers and narrow, upright lid.

…more beautiful and unique Pitcher plants...

13. Nepenthes lowii

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This unique pitcher plant is commonly called Low’s Pitcher-Plant and is native to Borneo. It is perhaps the most

unusual in the genus, being characterized by its strongly constricted upper pitchers, which bear a greatly reduced

peristome and a reflexed lid with numerous bristles on its lower surface.

14. Nepenthes aristolochioides

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This tropical pitcher plant is native to Sumatra has an extremely unusual pitcher morphology, having an almost

vertical opening to its traps.

15. Nepenthes macrophylla

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This attractive species is informally named Large-Leaved Pitcher-Plant. It is a tropical pitcher plant known only

from a very restrictive elevation on Mount Trus Madi in Sabah, Malaysia.

16. Nepenthes villosa

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The Villose Pitcher-Plant is another species of pitcher plant that is native to Mount Kinabalu in Borneo. It grows at

higher altitudes than any other Bornean Nepenthes species, occurring at elevations of over 3200 meters. This

pretty plant is characterized by its highly-developed and intricate peristome.

17. Nepenthes rajah

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Borneo is home to many beautiful species of Nepenthes.  One of which is the lovely highland plant Nepenthes

rajah which grows exclusively on serpentine substrates, particularly in areas of seeping ground water, where the

soil is loose and permanently moist.

18. Nepenthes adnata

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Nepenthes adnata is native to Sumatra in Indonesia. This tropical pitcher plant grows at elevations of 600 to 1100

m above sea level.

19. Nepenthes tenuis

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Nepenthes tenuis is another species of insectivorous plant that is native to Sumatra. The species was first

collected in 1957, from a remote mountain in the western part of the island. It remained undescribed until 1994,

and was only rediscovered in the wild in 2002.

20. Nepenthes dubia

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Another unique pitcher plant that is endemic to Sumatra in Indonesia is Nepenthes dubia. The epithet of this

tropical pitcher plant is Latin for ‘doubtful’.

21. Nepenthes inermis

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Another insectivorous plant from Sumatra is Nepenthes inermis. The specific epithet inermis is Latin for “unarmed”

and probably refers to the upper pitchers of this species, which are unique in that they completely lack a

peristome.

22. Cephalotus follicularis

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This small species of carnivorous plant is formally called Cephalotus follicularis. The pit-fall traps of the modified

leaves have inspired the common names for this plant, which include Albany Pitcher Plant, Western Australian

Pitcher Plant, Fly-catcher Plant or Moccasin plant.

23. Nepenthes jacquelineae

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And still, from Sumatra, - the colorful Nepenthes jacquelineae. Because of its peculiar pitcher morphology, it is

regarded to be one of the most spectacular Nepenthes species native to the island.

24. Nepenthes glabrata

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The last on the list is a species of pitcher plant native to Sulawesi - Nepenthes glabrata. The species grows in

open, high forest at elevations of 1600 to 2000 m. It produces dainty, colorful pitchers reaching only a few

centimeters in height. These traps are red speckled on a yellowish background, giving them a “hand painted”

appearance.

See also

Unique Sundews: Helpful and Beautiful Flesh-eating Plants for Your Garden

Amazingly Unique Garden Plants From Around the World

World’s Loveliest and Most Beautiful Flowering Ornamental Trees

14 Amazing Plants and Their Unique Characteristics