What Do Cobra Lilies Eat?

Cobra Lily

• The cobra lily is a pitfall trap, also known as a pitcher plant. The plant resembles a pitcher with a lip (a curled leaf) practically covering the pouch of the pitcher. The curled leaf also resembles a cobra head. Carnivorous pitcher plants are considered pitfall traps because its prey falls or crawls into the pouch and becomes trapped.

Insects

• Cobra lilies eat insects such as flies, gnats and other flying or crawling insects that happen upon the plant to feed on the sweet nectar secreted from the plant's glands. As the insect enters the pitcher or pouch of the plant, the tiny hairs pointing downward prevent the insect from getting out. The insect can go down further into the pouch, but the hairs prevent the insect from crawling upward.

Digestion

• Insects eventually fall into the liquid substance at the bottom of the pouch and drown. The liquid has a bacteria that helps the plant digest the soft parts of the insect. As the insect is digested, the nitrogen from the soft parts of the insect are absorbed by the cobra lily to supply the plant with its nutritional needs. The plant does not digest the hard parts of an insect. Those parts stay in the bottom of the pouch and eventually decay.

Interesting Facts

• Unlike other carnivorous plants, including the Venus flytrap, the cobra lily needs a dormancy period with cold temperatures to live for years. In areas with frigid winters, the plant will die back, but in areas with cool winters, the cobra lily will keep its leaves during the rest period. Dormant periods usually last for three to five months.