- Purple pitcher plants are small plants 11 to 12 inches tall, greenish in color with red zones or veins. The veins turn a deep burgundy when temperatures start to drop in fall and winter. When the pitcher plant is in bloom, the flowers appear in shades of pink.
- The small plant is a passive trapping plant. It doesn't have any moving parts to trap prey, as the Venus flytrap does. Insects are attracted to the sweet smell of the plant. As the insect explores the plant searching for the smell, it falls into the pouch filled with fluid. Tiny hairs inside the pouch point downward so the insect cannot escape.
- Purple pitcher plants need acidic soil, but can tolerate alkaline soils. The soil must be moist at all times to mimic the swampy or boggy conditions in which the plant grows in the wild. During winter months, the soil can dry between waterings because the plant is resting. Plants need at least six hours of sunlight, which brings out their reddish coloring.
- Purple pitcher plants need to capture and digest their prey to get the nutrients to grow. Because the soil condition in which the plant grows is not rich in nutrients, the plant relies on insects for food and energy. Pitcher plants will trap and digest ants, beetles, butterflies, wasps, moths and flies.
- Prey is digested after falling into the fluid-filled pouch. The fluid has digesting enzymes that slowly dissolve the insect, and nutrients are absorbed into the plant.
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