Question
I recently got a sarracenia purpurea from a friend. It is producing new pitchers, but the rim of the opening has a very sticky liquid. I thought the liquid was supposed to be slippery so the bug would fall in, but this liquid seems like it would get the bug stuck before it falls into the digestive juices. I was wondering if this sticky liquid was normal or if my plant might have something wrong with it?

Answer
Hi Jared,

Your plant is perfectly normal.  If Sarracenia are not exposed to rain like they would be in nature, the nectar secretions on the rim (peristome) can get quite heavy.  The peristome isn't the slippery part anyway.  It's past that lower down where insects encounter the hard, wax-like cells that offer no foothold.  

There's also this older video from the PBS Nature series called "Death Trap" that I think reinforces this myth.  They show "nectar-lubricated hairs".  As far as I can tell there is no such thing.  The downward pointing hairs are spiral spikes that offer no adhesion to insect foot pads.  Their structure interferes with the van der Waals forces that allows animals like insects and Geckos to stick to surfaces.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com