The World's Largest Carnivorous Plant: Nepenthes Rajah

Although Venus fly traps, sundews and other carnivorous plants are pretty fascinating to study, they're a little lacking in the size department. As a result, plenty of people who are new to the subject are quick to wonder what the largest carnivorous plant is, and the Nepenthes rajah is guaranteed not to disappoint. Nepenthes rajah is not quite of Little Shop of Horrors's caliber, but it is seriously impressive when it reaches it's full adult size.

While the diet of most carnivorous plants is limited to small insects, the Nepenthes rajah is capable of attracting a wide variety of prey. Nepenthes rajah largely subsists on insects big and small, but various amphibians, reptiles, birds and small mammals have met their demise while trying to swipe a snack out of this carnivorous plant. Like other pitcher plants, this monster feeds by luring its prey into it's massive, brightly colored pitcher. The insides of the pitcher are lined with down pointing fibers that make it very difficult for escape. Once the prey makes its way to the bottom, it is greeted with a bath of digestive fluid that breaks down the critter. The resulting nutrients are then absorbed into the body of the plant.

Nepthenes rajah is a low growing plant with a purple pitcher that is shaped like a large urn resting on the grown. The foliage of the Nepthenes rajah consists of broad, bright green leaves that grow in a tight, fairly symmetric pattern from a very short base. Older and well established specimens will also grow much smaller pitchers on its top that will attract flying insects. According cpjungle.com, this species of pitcher plant probably contains more water than any other plant species with possibly as much as 4 liters of water, over 2 liters of which is digestive fluid.

Nepenthes rajah is native to the grassy hillsides of two mountains in Malasia, Mount Tambuyukon and Mount Kinabalu. According to Growing Matters, propagation of this carnivorous plant outside of its native Malasian mountains is largely the result of breakthroughs in plant tissue culture. This is a process in which new plants are synthesized from original plant tissue by techniques other than traditional methods. As a result, the Nepenthes rajah can be reproduced with harming the wild plants in their native habitat. Nevertheless, this is a very slow growing plant, and cultivation outside of its native habitat is difficult due to the cool and very humid nights to which it is accustomed.

However, you do not need to travel to Malaysia or become a hortoculturist to enjoy this vibrant plant. A query to any search engine will result in great collection of high definition pictures and some video samples of Nepenthes Rajah growing in the wild.

SOURCES:
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq1160.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepenthes_rajah
http://www.captiveexotics.info/index.php?pr=Nepenthes_rajah
http://www.cpjungle.com/nupitchers.htm
http://www.growingmatters.co.uk/gmexotic_nepenthesrajah.htm