Secret of the carnivorous pitcher plant's slurp -- solved at last

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Scientists have deciphered the complex cocktail of digestive and antibacterial enzymes of the carnivorous pitcher plant.Courtesy of Tatsuro Hamada Ishikawa Prefectural University Japan
Scientists have deciphered the complex cocktail of digestive and antibacterial enzymes of the carnivorous pitcher plant.Courtesy of Tatsuro Hamada, Ishikawa Prefectural University, Japan

Splash! Ooch! Yum! And so another unsuspecting insect victim of Nepenthes alata (N. alata), commonly known as the carnivorous pitcher plant, falls victim to the digestive fluids at the bottom of the plant's famous cup-shaped leaf. For almost a century, scientists have sought the full chemical recipe for the pitcher plant's fluid.


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