BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Sarracenia minor | Hooded Pitcher-Plant 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Hooded pitcher-plant is a native, perennial, carnivorous forb.  The
hollow-shaped leaves form pitchers which have an overarching,
helmet-shaped hood [7,11].  The leaves average 9.8 to 11.8 inches (25-30
cm) in length but may reach 31.5 inches (80 cm) in certain areas.
Rhizomes are 0.4 to 0.8 inch (1-2 cm) thick.  The flower is odorless and
has pale yellow to yellow-green petals [13].  Fruits are broad and
tuberculate, from 0.2 to 0.6 inch (0.8-1.8 cm) long.  Seeds are very
small, averaging 0.04 inch (1.1-1.3 mm) in length.  Distinguishing
characteristics are the translucent spots on the leaves, and the concave
hood [11].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Undisturbed State:  Cryptophyte (geophyte)
   Burned or Clipped State:  Cryptophyte (geophyte)


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Reproduction is typically by seeds, but plants may regenerate
vegetatively from fragmentation of the rhizomes.  Bees, the main
pollinators, are polytropic; however, during the peak of Sarracenia
flowering, bees are effectively monotropic on sites where there are
large stands of flowers, visiting only Sarracenia species [5].  Bare
ground is vital for seedling establishment [7].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Hooded pitcher-plant has wider ecological amplitude than other
Sarracenia species, and grows on both wet and dry sites.  It inhabits
mesic to well-drained upland savannas, wet flatwoods, and bogs [4,13].
Hooded pitcher-plants reach their largest size in the very wet habitat
of the Okefenokee swamp, where they grow intermixed with S. psittacina
on huge floating sphagnum islands called prairies.  The plants are
hardier in wet substrates, indicating the drier locations are probably
not preferred [13].

Along the Gulf Coast, Sarracenia species are often associated with
Sphagnum, sundew (Drosera spp.), butterwort (Pinguicula spp.), pipewort
(Eriocaulon spp.), bladderwort (Utricularia spp.), grass-pink (Calopogon
spp.), burmannia (Burmannia spp.), and other genera characteristic of
acidic sites [11].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Plant succession on pitcher-plant bogs is toward a sedge-woody species
dominated community.  Fire, however, retards this succession, and
pitcher-plant bogs are thought to be fire disclimaxes [2].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Hooded pitcher-plant flowers along the Gulf Coast from late March to
mid-May, blooming later in the northern range [11,13].  This is the only
species in which flowering commonly occurs simultaneously with or
slightly after pitcher growth.  Pitchers persist all winter in sheltered
stands in the southernmost range, but die back during severe winters
[13].

Related categories for Species: Sarracenia minor | Hooded Pitcher-Plant