Pretty as a Pitcher
Pitcher plants (the only Pennsylvania species is Sarracenia purpurea L.) are well known for their specialized leaves, which form water-holding pitchers in which insects drown, providing nutrients for the plant. These plants also have unusual flowers, which bloom in the spring. The style is shaped like an umbrella (peltate), and the petals fit between the "spokes". The stigmas (where the pollen lands on the receiving flower) are near the ends of these "spokes". The lobes of the peltate stigma form a one-way flap-like door for the pollinator to enter the space inside where the nectar-reward waits. The petals form flap-like doors for the pollinator to leave. This system ensures out-crossing -- the pollen from one flower is likely to end up in a different flower promoting genetic exchange between plants.
Pitcher plants grow at Tamarack Swamp, a WPC project area in Clinton County. If you want to see them though, be prepared to spend some time searching with your feet wet and in the company of lots of mosquitoes!
The mosquitoes that are attracted to you are probably going to try to bite you, but one of the interesting facets of pitcher plant ecology is that there are invertebrates that can live in the pitchers without being digested. Some of those invertebrates are mosquitoes, and this species does not bite!
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