Pitcher Plants

 

Date of Issue : 13 March  2013

These Special stamps issued by PHLPOST feature different varieties of Pitcher plants that can be found in the Philippines. The stamps have been issued in a miniature sheet and  a sheetlet of 16 stamps. The stamps are colorful and very attractive .It’s a beautiful set for those collecting on plants .

The families Nepenthaceae and Sarraceniaceae are the best-known and largest groups of pitcher plants.The Nepenthaceae contains a single genus, Nepenthes, containing over 100 species and numerous hybrids and cultivars. In these Old World pitcher plants, the pitchers are borne at the end of tendrils that extend from the midrib of an otherwise unexceptional leaf. The plants themselves are often climbers, accessing the canopy of their habitats using the aforementioned tendrils, although others are found on the ground in forest clearings, or as epiphytes on trees.

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. Foraging, flying or crawling insects such as flies are attracted to the cavity formed by the cupped leaf. The rim of the pitcher is slippery, when moistened by condensation or nectar, causing insects to fall into the trap.There are more than a hundred species of pitcher plants and many of them can be found in the Philippines.

Source : PHL Post