Plants need sunshine and water to grow. One type of plant has another trick up its leaves. Pitcher plants snack on bugs. That happens after insects slip into the plant’s pitcher. But why do bugs fall into these traps? A new report says it might have to do with the plant’s smells!
Pitcher plants form a cup. The rims of these cups are slippery. At the bottom of this cup is a liquid called . Once a bug lands on the plant, it slips into the nectar. It can’t get out. So, it’s lunch for the pitcher plant!
Experts studied the smells of the pitcher plants. It’s probably not a scent that you would notice. “The smell of the pitcher plants we studied is not very strong,” said Laurence Gaume. She helped write the study. But Gaume said the smell could be “far clearer for insects.”
The report came out on April 20. For the study, researchers grew four kinds of pitcher plants. Each one gave off scents with different chemicals. And different insects liked the different scents.
For example, some plants had limonene. That chemical is found in fruits with strong scents, like lemons. Butterflies and bees loved those pitcher plants! Those insects plants that help oranges and lemons grow! Other pitcher plants gave off scents with fatty acid chemicals. Those plants attracted bug like wasps.
Researchers could usually predict which bugs would fall into the traps based on the smell. Gaume says this shows that pitcher plants “target their .” However, the team hopes to learn more. They want to get another whiff of pitcher plants.
Updated April 27, 2023, 5:01 P.M. (ET)
By Tyler Burdick
