Pitcher Plants   GENUS Sarracenia

Sarracenia minor

This species grows along the coastal plain from the southeastern tip of North Carolina down to eastern half of the Florida panhandle and down to mid-half of Florida peninsula.

Hooded pitcher plant.

Okefenokee Swamp

Flowering occurs in mid-March to May. In this species, fully functional, new set of spring pitchers are already present at the time of flowering. Utterly inconsiderate, blatant disregard of temporal separation between pollination and prey acquisition. Darn.

Typical pitcher grows to a height of 30 cm or so, though a giant form (from Okefenokee) Schell reaches 80 cm tall in the wild, and this character is reported to be maintained in cultivation.

A typical flower scape is shorter than the mature pitcher leaf. A flower has yellow petals covering the light yellow umbrella pistil.

The plants are known to be particularly fond of ants for their prey. A nectar trail runs along the margin of the pitcher wing (ala) from ground up all the way to the rim of the pitcher opening.

A flower has light yellow petals with light greenish umbrella shaped pistil.

The inner surface of an overhanging hood is heavily lined with red venation. Seen from the vantage point of a visiting insect, an overhanging hood creates an attractive, bright red ceiling scattered over the blue sky. The upper one third of the back of the pitcher is covered with numerous white patches, known as fenestrations, or areoles. These light windows persuades the insect to make a final and deadly final step to mistake to enter the pitcher interior. A flying insect will slam against the light windows thinking a false exit, and tumble into the pitcher bottom. A crawling insect may proceed toward the back interior, only to lose foothold due to slippery waxy surface. 

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