Cephalotus follicularis is an absolutely fabulous looking plant from southwest Australia. A pot of these bizarre little things look so grotesquely bizarre, you expect their lids to start flapping at you any second as they start singing a happy little puppet song or demand a blood sacrifice immediately.

Really, this rosetted plant is remarkable. The rosettes consist of two types of leaves. One kind is flat, a few to several cm long, and somewhat tonguelike. The other kind is dramatically transmogrified into a complex pitcher shape.

The pitchers are marvels of adaptation. Flanged wings on the pitchers might function as insect highways, drawing prey up to the pitcher mouth. A lid with windows allows in light, but prevents the pitcher from overfilling with rain. A peristome around the mouth is festooned with glands. Prey that fall into the pitcher find escape impossible because of the microscopic downward-pointing projections on the slippery pitcher walls, and a nasty overhanging ceiling they cannot navigate around. Each pitcher is filled with fluid, exuded by domelike glands, the dread gland patch.

 
Eesh!

The common name, Albany pitcher plant, merely indicates that this plant is found near the Australian town of Albany. The Latin name translates, strangely enough, to "the sack-bearing, headed one". Although this sounds like some horrible kind of schoolyard insult that got messed up on the delivery. The entire plant & seeds is covered with so many little bristles it has been called a "vegetable hedgehog." 

The plantlets pictured above are indicative of what you'll  receive. Grown from seed, they are now more than 2.5 years of age and shipped in their growing medium to minimize shock.  Their growing well and healthily and should start producing adult pitcher within a year or two. First come first serve - biggest strongest seedling get homes first. Care instructions will be provided with your purchase, feel free to ask questions.

Some more info on the life cycle of the Cephalotus