Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Carnivorous Plants - Sarasota, FL
N 27° 19.612 W 082° 32.423
17R E 347604 N 3023580
The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, located in Sarasota, Florida, USA, has carnivorous plants on display.
Waymark Code: WMJGW8
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 11/17/2013
Views: 9
For the preservation of this locality, collection is prohibited. Carnivorous pitcher plants are one of the key featured plants at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.
The following information is from the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens website:
"One of the most unique genera in cultivation here at Selby Gardens is the genus Nepenthes. A carnivorous liana found primarily in the islands of South East Asia, Nepenthes grow in nutrient-poor soil and have adapted over the years by adding an organ. The “pitcher,” which many people assume to be a flower, is actually an extension of the leaf’s midrib. At maturity, plants will have two morphologically different pitchers called “upper” and “lower.” These structures are filled with a fluid of the plant’s own making, which both attracts and helps to digest its prey. Small insects, such as ants, comprise much of the menu, but the recently-discovered Nepenthes attenboroughii has been observed eating rats.
The pitchers don’t just help the plant get the food it needs; in addition they become an entire ecosystem unto themselves. Swarms of mosquitoes spend their larval days in the pitcher fluids, as do frogs and their tadpoles, even a species of crab in Malaysia. These animals are referred to as nepenthephiles. It is suspected that the relationship between the nepenthephiles and their hosts is mutually beneficial. The pitcher plant provides food and shelter to the critters, and in turn the critters speed up the digestion of the less fortunate drowned critters, consuming them and then…well, you get the idea."
The Gardens are open from 10:00am to 5:00pm daily except Christmas Day.