Pitcher Plant: How Does It Attract, Trap and Digest Its Prey?

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Kristine D. Alos English IV-Rizal Mrs. Lilia. P. Angub 16 January 2013 Pitcher Plant: How Does it Attract, Trap and Digest its Prey? What are pitcher plants? Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap(Chisholm, n. pag). The leaf of the plant is modified to attract and then digests insects and other small prey(Miller and Levine, 598). As its name implies, its physical appearance looks like a pitcher. Its pitcher-like structure isn’t just made to please the human eye, but it stands for a purpose, which is to eat insects and small animals in order to survive. How are pitcher plants classified in taxonomy, or the classification of organisms? First comes the kingdom. From the name itself, pitcher plant is plant, not an animal even though it is carnivorous. Members of the kingdom plantae (plants) are multicellular organisms that are photosynthetic autotrophs. In other words, they carry out photosynthesis(Miller and Levine, 461). What is photosynthesis? Photosynthesis is the name used to designate the chemical reactions involved in the trapping of the sun’s energy and the use of this energy to manufacture food by green plants(Mason and Peters, 598), that quialifies it to belong to kingdom plantae or plants. Furthermore, most pitcher plants belong to division tracheophyta(vascular plants), which means that they can grow branches on swampy areas that are strong enough to stand by itself. Pitcher plants also produce seeds, so it belongs to subdivision spermatophyta. Lastly, pitcher plants belong to class angiosperms, or flower bearing plants. The rest of the classification, including subclass, family, genus and species depend on the type of pitcher plant. Pitcher plants belong to two large families of monocots- the Nepenthaceae and

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