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Kind of an odd question, but...

  • Thread starter Chomp
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Chomp

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I just don't have the guts to stick my nose into a pitcher and risk a bee or something crawling up my nose.
Does anyone know what a pitcher plant smells like?
I was just curious.
Thanks!
Chomp
 
I actually smelled several of mine this spring and didn't detect much of anything.
They all smell like dead bugs now though.
 
The nectar should have a scent but the average human sense of smell won't pick it up.

I seem to recall one hybrid or species is supposed to have a slight strawberry scent to the pitchers.

Since my sniffer isn't that sensitive I've never bothered.
 
S. flava smell like honey and the taste is sweet nectar.
S. alata is more like sweet lemon ( I do not know how to explain)
S. leucophylla, purpurea and psittacina do not smell (I think).
 
S. flava flowers smell like cat pee.
 
you can look down the tube and be sure there isn't a bee before sticking your nose to it and sniffing, then you can see for yourself what it smells like. When its full of dead bugs it smells like dead bugs
 
I can definitely detect a mild, generic sweet scent from some of my plants. It's hard to tell which, though. I mostly notice it on hot days.
~Joe
 
  • #10
It depends upon which genera of pitcher plants. Most of my Sarracenia are fairly neutral in terms of odor, while the Heliamphora are often cloying and reminiscent of honey . . .
 
  • #11
I've noticed that if I feed my S. Purpurea a slug or worm, it really starts to stink after a few days.
 
  • #12
Smells earthy - like loam or sod.
 
  • #13
At this time of the year, mine smell like decaying matter. It's pretty rancid, especially the 'Judith Hindle' clones that are filled to the brink with flies, moths, and other goodies. The cool thing is that the smell attracts swarms of green bottle flies and I capture them to feed my mantids.
 
  • #14
The nectar just taste like mid-sweet...sweet.
 
  • #15
Hehe, I didn't even think about that part. Yeah, the way my plants are looking this time of year I don't even really want to look down the pitchers, let alone sniff them. I'm going to clip my oreophila pitchers and bring them to work on Friday for creepy-looking decorations.
~Joe
 
  • #16
Thanx for the help guys. The only sarr that I have that is big enough, has a kind of hood that mkes it so that I can't look down, but now that the squirrels have torn it up I can see strait through the traps D:

---------- Post added at 03:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:15 PM ----------

and Marcos Ono, how do you know how it tastes?
Or do I want to know
 
  • #17
I've read a description of S. leucophylla as being 'perfumed' in 'Growing Carnivorous Plants' by B Rice, p.32...

The author is discussing the 'Hooker zones' in this section: "Zone 1 is an attractive zone: the pitcher lid. This structure provides a convenient landing area for the prey. It is brightly colored, especially around the pitcher mouth, and in S. leucophylla is even perfumed."
 
  • #18
S. flava flowers smell like cat pee.



S. alata, too! One time, someone brought in a Sarracenia alata green to a club meeting to show off. That thing must have had twenty flowers. Everything was cool, until we locked up the room, shut the windows and blinds, to see a home movie, and then that one plant stank up the entire room. :eek: Ugh! I thought to myself "never in my yard!" Well, now, that resolution didn't last long, as I now have a pot full, and I think it may even be a division offa that same plant.
 
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