Pitcher Plant

(Sarracenia purpurea)

 

   

 

Color Photographs: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea L.)

Identification: A bog plant. Flower large, nodding, with drooping red petals surrounding a swollen, round, huge pistil. Flowers solitary on a long flowering stalk. Leaves modified into a round, red-veined, pitcher-like structure, usually half filled with water. Top of pitcher with a flaring lip, lip with downward pointing bristles. Plant 8 to 24 inches in height.

Distribution: Across Canada from Labrador to the Canadian Rockies. Southward to Florida, Kentucky, and Louisiana.

Habitat: Pitcher Plant is found in Sphagnum and sandy bogs.

Flowering period: May to July.

Similar Species: Pitcher Plant is unlikely to be confused with any other plant species.

Comments: The pitchers capture insects which decay in the trapped water. The decaying insects are a source of nutrients, particularly nitrates, in the nutrient poor bog environment.

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