California Pitcher Plant

Darlingtonia californica

The carnivorous California Pitcher Plant is endemic to the Klamath region of northwest California and southern Oregon, with a few disjunct populations. It is restricted to nutrient-poor soils in seeps usually called "Darlingtonia bogs." Insects enter the tubular modified leaves, which are nearly closed by a hood with transparent patches. Exhausted in the attempt to escape, they eventually light on the slippery wall of the leaf, where downward-pointing hairs force them to the pool of enzyme-laden water below.