What a lovely surprise to walk into our tropical growth chamber today and find that the whole lot of Nepenthes gracilis seeds that Oona sowed out in September have germinated! Look at those perfect little baby pitcher plants:

What totally blew my mind was the realisation that the first proper leaf (after the cotyledons) that these tiny plants make is  a pitcher! A mere 2 mm tall, what do these miniature traps capture, and how? Also fascinating to see how different to ‘normal’, later stage pitchers these look!

Watch this space for some exciting baby pitcher research to follow soon…!