If the Pitcher plant has green leaves then why cant they prepare their own food?

Answer 1

They can they need photosynthesis for food and they also need bugs for food.

Answer 2

Plants have leaves by which they photosynthesise, but they also need certain nutrients such as fixed nitrogen (nitrates) from the soil. Pitcher plants live in bogs which are very poor in these nutrients so they need to find another way of getting them.

Answer 3

Your question has been neatly answered on the link below, just click on it .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivorous_plants

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivorous_plants#Evolution

To put it in a few words = 1) The green leaves are used for photosynthesis and to prepare sugars and other carbohydrates.

2 ) They also require proteins for which they want nitrogenous compounds or nitrates .

3 ) The bog soil in which they grow cannot supply it , so they depend upon insects .

Answer 4

Pitcher plants have adapted to a carnivorous diet to get nutrients they can't get from their environment. Non-carnivores get fed from the decomposition of mulch, but carnivores flourish in a substrate so acidic that fungi and bacteria can't break down discarded plant material.

Answer 5

Fannie's right - they can and do photosynthesize, but because they grow in very nutrient-poor bogs, they must depend on other sources for important components like nitrogen. So, they lure in flies and other insects, and get their proteins to use as fertilizer.