In the last three years I have had the opportunity to make numerous visits to the mysterious forests of north- east India. One of my favorite places is Meghalaya (which means the ‘abode of clouds’ in Sanskrit). Tucked away in a corner of north-east India, Meghalaya has three hill ranges — Jaintia Hills to the extreme east, Garo Hills in the east and the Khasi Hills sandwiched between. Unfortunately, most of the forests in the Jaintia and Khasi hills have fallen prey to development, so the last significant stretch of forest in Meghalaya is a 600 sq km area in the Garo Hills, called the Balpakram-Baghmara Landscape.
The area is home to the Garo tribe or the A-chik Mande as they call themselves (meaning hill people). During my very first visit to this enchanted location, I was very keen to see a specific plant. The Pitcher plant, Nepenthes khasiana, is endemic to Meghalaya (meaning that it is only found here). What’s special about this plant — it is insectivorous; it eats insects! The Garo call the pitcher plant ‘Memang koksi’ meaning the ‘basket of the devil’ because any insect that falls into the plant, gets devoured by it. On my first field trip to the Garo hills, I pestered the person with me to show me the pitcher plant. We were still on the road when the person pointed up to the hill slope — the entire area was covered with memang koksi! The plant is amazing. It consists of a long tube-like structure, attached to a tendril. This tube is covered by a lid which prevents insects that have fallen into the pitcher from escaping easily. Inside this tube is a sticky fluid. Opening the lid gently I observed that numerous small insects were floating in the fluid. The inside of the pitcher is waxy with many hairs. Whenever an insect happens to venture into the pitcher, it slips on the pitcher’s wall and eventually falls into this fluid. The plant dissolves the insect in this digestive fluid to get its nutrition.
The locals have many interesting names for the pitcher plant. The Khasi’s call this the Tiew-Rakot or the Demon-Flower, while the Jaintia tribe calls it the Kset-Phare which means ‘fly net with a lid’. During the course of my numerous visits to the Garo hills, I always loved to see this plant. And on each occasion, I would lift the lid to examine what the pitcher plant was having for its next meal!