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Nepenthes Pitcher Fluid -
2017-September-11
An Un-Opened Nepenthes
Pitcher
National Geographic Magazine, May 1964, features a CP article "Malaysia's Giant
Flowers and Insect-Trapping Plants"
by Paul A. Zahl (Nationl Geographic Senior Staff).
In the article, Zahl drinks the liquid of Nepenthes sanguinea and reports
"it tasted good, though warm."
with a photo of him drinking out of the pitcher.
He presumably picked a pitcher which was not fully matured and not opened yet.
This is an excellent CP article coming from none other than National Geographic,
with lots of striking photographs.
I would not recommend drinking the pitcher plant's liquid if it's already open
--
First of all,
the pitcher of tropical Nepenthes forms a micro-ecosystem in which
multitude of inquilines live in the liquid,
including mosquito larvae, parasites and other micro-organisms,
in order to bring the trapped prey to the digestible state for the plant.
Besides,
just imagine how troublesome to clean your teeth afterwards,
using tooth floss to get rid of legs and wings and eyes of the flies and roaches
stuck between your teeth.
An un-opened pitcher is
a different story.
Nepenthes pitchers already contain some amount of liquid before the lid opens,
as shown in the photograph below.
I am surprised - it's a fair amount of liquid in this plant.
It is sterile and probably safe to drink - with moderation.
See the reference below for chemical contents...
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Nikon D300 + Micro Nikkor 60mm F2.8
F11, 1.0 sec, ISO 200, Raw (Nikon Capture NX)
Copyright (c) 2017 Makoto Honda. All Rights Reserved.