Darlingtonia Californica
When it comes to evil, Darlingtonia is second to none – everything about it, from the pitcher’s morphology to its commensal adaptations, contradicts the stereotype of the innocuous vegetable.
Field Trip Report: Blue Mountains National Park, NSW, Australia
If you have ever experienced that extended period of cold, rainy darkness known as Berlin winter, you will agree that escaping it even for a few weeks can be a good idea. Even more so if you cultivate botanical interests:...
Sarracenia
Tall and slender, elegantly veined and often brightly coloured, Sarracenia is a personal favourite of mine – in front of a good selection of specimens I really have to control myself or I would buy them all. There are currently...
Dionaea
“I should note that in those days, professor Bulwer was teaching his students about the dreadful methods of carnivorous plants” an intertitle warns us, in gothic lettering on a green-tinted background “one viewed with horror the mysterious workings of nature”....
Heliamphora
“Monsters from the dawn of man’s existence might still roam these heights unchallenged, imprisoned and protected by unscalable cliffs”(1) wrote British explorer Percy H. Fawcett about his expedition to Venezuela in 1911 and the effect his tales had on the...
Drosera
“At this present moment, I care more about Drosera than about the origin of all the species”, Darwin wrote to Charles Lyell in 1860, “but I will not publish on Drosera till next year, for I am frightened and astounded...
Carnivorous Plants: An Introduction
To be considered carnivorous, a plant has to fit three criteria: actively attract and kill its prey, have developed a mechanism to digest it, and derive significant nutritional gain from the process. To be considered an ‘expert grower’ of carnivorous...