Wetlands are a vital link between water and land. Wetland is the collective term for marshes, swamps, bogs, and similar areas. They are usually found in flat vegetated areas in the depressions or holes in the landscape and between dry land and water along the edges of streams, rivers, lakes and coastlines.

Wetlands can be found in nearly every state and climatic zone in the United States and they serve a very important role in the overall health of our planet. Wetlands help regulate water levels within watersheds, improve water quality by filtering out pollutants and pesticides, reduce flood and storm damage, and provide important habitats for fish and wildlife. Many carnivorous plants also make their home in the wetlands.

Carnivorous plants are plants that trap and digest bugs, insects, and sometimes animals. Many carnivorous plants live in nutrient poor soils. As a result, they supplement their diet with insects. Insects are almost like a vitamin for the plant. These plants use a variety of trapping mechanisms to catch and eat their prey. Below is a description of a famous carnivorous plant that lives in Georgia called a Pitcher Plant or in the scientific world - Sarracenia.

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Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia)

Pitcher plants have container-shaped leaves with sealed bottoms that hold liquid. Different kinds of pitcher plants are found in many parts of the world, including Georgia! Nectar lures insects into the pitcher's slippery sides. Once an insect loses its footing on the slippery sides, downward-pointing hairs keep the insect from climbing back up to the top.

Dissecting a pitcher plant reveals what is inside. As the plant is opened, insect remains show what the plant has "eaten." After the plant has digested the soft tissue parts of the insect or bug, the harder parts, like the wings and exoskeleton, remain. Scroll through the pictures to the left. In them, you will see the inside of a pitcher plant. Look for bits and pieces of wings, legs, hard outer coverings and antennae.

Some pitcher plants are home small caterpillars that use the inside of the pitcher plant to pupate and metamorphose into an adult moth. The moth pupae in this pitcher plant began to move once it was removed from its protective home.

To learn more about carnivorous plants, visit the plant profiles page and read about Venus flytraps, sundews, butterworts, nepenthes and Sarracenia.