Pitcher Plants and Convergent Evolution

It was Charles Darwin himself who helped popularise the study of carnivorous plants, describing them as the “most wonderful plants in the world”1. A number of different carnivorous plants have independently evolved pitcher organs to catch their arthropod prey2, but how do they work and why do they look so similar?

‘Nepenthes’ Lithograph (1900) by Stoomdrukkerij Floralia Assen3.

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