Chomp 2! Return of the Carnivorous Plants
May 7 – October 31, 2010
Oh no! They’re back, and they’re more frightfully fun than ever! This
summer, the Conservatory of Flowers becomes a Little Shop of Horticultural
Horrors with a sequel to its 2007 exhibition “Chomp!” “Chomp 2! Return of
the Carnivorous Plants” once again immerses visitors in a swampy paradise
for meat-eating plants like the statuesque white trumpets of the American
Southeast, the sinister pitcher plants of Borneo and the glistening sundews
of South Africa. The extraordinary beauty and diversity of species on
display will dazzle even the most squeamish.
“Chomp 2! Return of the Carnivorous Plants” features expanded displays of
these natural born killers with dazzling, new additions like the Dionaea
B-52, the world’s largest Venus flytrap with traps up to two inches square,
and the aptly named (for a bug, that is) ‘Abandoned Hope,’ a pitcher plant
hybrid that can grow up to two feet tall.
Visitors can feast their eyes on hundreds of multi-colored, meat-eating
plants arranged in swampy, living bogs that showcase species both by their
trapping strategies and by their native regions and countries.
Family-oriented investigation stations with magnifying lenses and a special
scavenger hunt activity booklet available through the gift store help
children to learn why and how these plants capture prey to get their
nutritional needs met. Special demonstrations led by docents in the "Flytrap
Theater" on Saturdays and Sundays at 12 and 2 pm provide an even more in
depth understanding of these monstrous beauties, and a display of botanical
drawings by Mary Harden's Master Artists of the San Francisco Botanical
Garden Society's Illustration Program beautifully reveals some of the
structural details that make these plants so alluring.
So, don’t miss this summer’s most fatal attraction – “Chomp 2! Return of the
Carnivorous Plants!”
Click here to enjoy a slide show of original water colors and pen & ink botanical drawings by Master Artists studying under Mary L. Harden.
Click here to read about our exhibition and exhibit partner California Carnivores' owner Peter D'Amato in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Conservatory of Flowers would like to thank the following media sponsors for their support of the exhibition:
The Conservatory would also like to thank the following exhibit partners:
* California Carnivores
* Raccoon Ridge
* Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society
* Paxton Gate
* Master Artists of the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society’s Illustration Program
 Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap) Credit: Barry Rice |
 Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap) Credit: Barry Rice |
 Drosera capensis (sundew) Credit: Barry Rice |
 Nepenthes rafflesiana (Asian pitcher plant) Credit: Holly Stewart |
 Pinguicula gypsicola x agnata (butterwort) Credit: Barry Rice |
 Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap) Credit: Nina Sazevich |
 Pinguicula 'Titan' (butterwort) Credit: Barry Rice |