The lost worlds are among the wettest places on earth. Rainfall falls almost every day – over 11,000 mm annually – and scours the summits of the plateaus of sediment and nutrients, giving rise to a barren and dramatic rocky landscape, ecologically crippled by the impoverished soil. In this strange, co-called “rain desert” ecosystem, a several families have responded to the lack of available nutrients by breaking the regular structure of the food chain and actively preying on animals.

The largest and most spectacular of these carnivorous plants are the pitcher plants – Heliamphora. These strange plants produce tall, tubular, hollow, cup shaped foliage adapted to trapping insect prey, and most species are found on just one or two individual plateaus, and occur nowhere else on earth!

The pitcher plants attract animal prey by their vibrant colouration and profuse secretions of sweet nectar. Most pitcher plants have a sweet fragrance and flying insects in particular find this sweet lure irresistible. But in their efforts to reach the nectar, animal prey is forced to scale the waxy, slippery interior surface of the leaf, and slips down into the depths of the trap and into the digestive liquid contained within. In many species, long, downward pointing spines prevent trapped prey from climbing up the inside of the trap, and the victims drown and are digested in the plants’ leaves!

We are only beginning to understand the diversity of the pitcher plants of the lost worlds. Since in many cases, each species of pitcher plant is found on just one plateau, and nowhere else, ongoing exploration is revealing more and more new species of these incredible carnivorous plants. Just this year, three more species (Heliamphora ciliata, H. huberi and H. uncinata) have been named, and no doubt lots more await discovery!