Re: CP nutrition

From: SCHLAUER@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de
Date: Fri Dec 05 1997 - 08:50:56 PST


Date:          Fri, 5 Dec 1997 08:50:56 
From: SCHLAUER@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg4625$foo@default>
Subject:       Re: CP nutrition

Dear Mark,

> But some plants, like the
> pitcher plant, have no digestive enzymes whatsoever, according to Professor
> Thomas Givnish of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Instead, the pitcher
> plant relies on bacteria and fly larvae in the insect traps to digest the
> prey.

This is wrong at an important point: It is not "the pitcher plant"
but only a limited number of pitcher plants belonging to
Sarraceniaceae (viz. most but not all _Heliamphorae_ and
_Darlingtonia_) that apparently lack endogenous protease secretion
into the pitchers. Pitcher plants in the genera _Sarracenia_,
_Cephalotus_, and _Nepenthes_ do at least theoretically have an
autonomous digestive system, the bacteria and fly larvae being
beneficial in some cases but not essential.

Kind regards
Jan



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