Composition : 99,999% or
Mintage : 1,400

Canada's most unusual floral emblem - Newfoundland and Labrador's pitcher plant

Despite its extensive range, the pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) is not the easiest plant to spot because it grows primarily in wet, inaccessible areas like the bogs, marshlands and tundra of Newfoundland and Labrador. Countless thousands thrive in these highly acidic environments that tend to lack the nutrients most plants require. So how does the pitcher plant survive? It "eats meat."

Insects are attracted to the plant's reddish, pitcher-shaped leaves that cluster together and look like flowers. The lip at the top of each "pitcher" is a perfect landing spot and the insect is lured into it by nectar-rich veins and downward-pointing hairs that keep it from crawling out. Inevitably, the insect drowns in the rainwater at the bottom and is"digested" by fungi and bacteria that reside there.

Despite its appetite for insects, the pitcher plant is the only site where one species of mosquito will breed. Larvae feed on the decomposing insects before hatching, mating and returning to the pitcher to lay eggs.

The pitcher plant was declared the provincial flower of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1954, but residents had obviously taken note of its unique qualities long before that - in the late 1880's, it was featured prominently on Newfoundland's penny.

This coin is the twelveth issue of the Provincial floral emblems of Canada series andcontains 13 coins that have been released between 1998 and 2010.

CANADIAN FLORAL EMBLEMS - THE PITCHER PLANT, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR - 2009 CANADIAN COINS 12 is categorised COINS AND PAPER MONEY / 08- ROYAL CANADIAN MINT / 25- GOLD, PLATINE & PALLADIUM COINS and sold by l'Imaginaire, a store and specialised website.