Largest carnivorous plant traps (by volume)

Which species of carnivorous plant bears the largest traps depends on your prevailing criteria of size but one thing for certain is that the record holder is a pitcher plant – a group dominated by two families: Nepenthaceae and Sarraceniaceae. All pitcher plants employ adapted beaker-shaped leaves filled with digestive juices, known as "pitfall traps", to ensnare their prey. In terms of trapping volume, the largest carnivorous traps belong to various species in the giant tropical pitcher plant genus of Nepenthes. Frequently cited as bearing the largest pitchers is the giant montane pitcher (Nepenthes rajah) of Malaysian Borneo whose pitchers can contain as much as 3.5 litres (118.3 fl oz) of water or 2.5 litres (84.5 fl oz) of digestive fluid. They have been known to consume animals as large as frogs, birds and even rats. One exceptionally large N. rajah pitcher, measuring 41 cm (1 ft 4.1 in) tall, was found on a plant encountered on 26 March 2011 during a Sabah Society visit to Mesilau, on the east ridge of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah province. It was measured by Alex Lamb and then collected for preservation at Mesilau Headquarters. Other wild Nepenthes species that are deemed contenders for the most voluminous pitchers are N. insignis, N. merrilliana and some forms of N. rafflesiana. In recent years, cultivated hybrids may now even be surpassing their giant ancestors in trap size, such as Nepenthes sibuyanensis x merrilliana – provisionally designated Nepenthes ‘Titanic’ – developed by Robert and Diana Cantley (both UK) and the team at Borneo Exotics in Lindula, Sri Lanka, one trap of which was 47 cm (1 ft 6.5 in) tall from base to lid and was able to hold 2.986 litres (101 fl oz) of water as measured on 16 April 2025.

In terms of length of traps, N. truncata produces pitchers that are overall much taller than N. rajah; some from central Mindanao in the Philippines have been reported at up to 55 cm (1 ft 9.6 in) from base to spur.

The ground-based traps of Sarracenia, meanwhile, deserve mention as by far the tallest individual traps for a carnivorous plant. This genus of North American plants includes species with very slender, trumpet-shaped pitchers. Some of the largest measured are of Sarracenia flava and S. leucophylla, which have pitchers as tall as 120 cm (3 ft 11.2 in).