2007.3 - PITCHER PLANTS

Several years ago, while making my “inside-outside” cups and bowls, I started thinking that it might be fun to make a series of cups that would be absolutely obscene. However, making coupled and uncoupled body parts takes very little creativity, and so I set the problem that my obscene pots should be able to be displayed in a Victorian ladies parlor that also housed a preschool, without discomfort. This made it a bit harder. I think I have succeeded in concept, if not in scale with the pitcher plants.

Biologically, pitcher plants are fascinating. They live in low nutrient environments, and therefore get their nitrogen by being carnivorous. The largest ones can hold a quart of liquid, and eat insects and other small animals like frogs. The plants are smart, and can change their mechanical properties to suit the situation. Picture an ant crawling along the rim of the pitcher. She (colonial insects tend to be sisters) is quite happy sniffing about, looking for a meal for the colony. She scouts, and then returns to the colony. A bit later, she returns with her family. In the meantime, the pitcher plant has changed the rim of the pitcher so that now, it is quite slippery, and as the mass of ants return, they slide into the liquid below. Now, this isn’t just ordinary liquid. This is a special non-Newtonian fluid. Newtonian fluids are the ones we normally deal with, and they behave predictably, like air and water. Non-Newtonian fluids act funny. In this case, the fluid is quite liquid as long as the animal moves very slowly through it. Unfortunately for our trapped prey, they panic and move quickly. This causes the fluid to become much more viscous, trapping and tiring the prey. And we thought plants acted just like…plants.