Parrot Pitcher Plant

The Parrot Pitcher Plant is the most unusual of the North American pitcher plants, its small, globe-shaped pitchers lying horizontally along the ground with an opening like a parrot's beak — the source of its common name. The pitchers function as lobster-pot traps: insects and even small aquatic invertebrates can enter but cannot find their way out through the translucent dome. During floods, the pitchers capture aquatic organisms like small fish and tadpoles. It is the most water-tolerant pitcher plant, often growing in areas that flood seasonally.