Nepenthes Lady Luck

Developed by Borneo Exotics from Nepenthes ampullaria and Nepenthes ventricosa, this plant is a perennial carnivorous hybrid with deep red pitchers and numerous shoots from the base. It is also sold as ‘Bloody Mary’. The pitchers are modified leaves borne at the ends of tendrils. Insects attracted to the traps fall into digestive fluid, where they are broken down and their nutrients absorbed by the plant.

The true flowers are separate from the pitchers and develop along elongated flowering stalks. Like other Nepenthes, these plants produce male and female flowers on separate individuals. The small flowers have colored sepals but no petals, and seed production requires pollen from a male plant to reach a female plant. Photographed in Florida.