BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Sarracenia purpurea | Pitcher-Plant 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Pitcher-plant is a native, perennial, carnivorous forb.  The evergreen
leaves are modified into pitchers and arranged in a rosette [23].  The
pitchers are curved and decumbent, measuring to 17.7 inches (45 cm) and
widening prominently toward the mouth.  The hood on the pitcher is
positioned vertically, resulting in the pitcher usually being full or
partly full of rainwater [13].  Leaf color varies from bright
yellow-green to dark purple and is most commonly a middle variation with
strong red venation.  Flower petals, sepals, and bracts are rose pink to
dark red [22].  Flowers are solitary, and terminate a scape arising from
the rhizome.  At anthesis the scape is recurved near the apex.  The
fruit is a capsule with laterally winged seeds [18].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Reproduction is typically by seeds but may also occur by fragmentation
of the rhizomes [9,18].  Bees are the main pollinators.  Though normally
polytropic, during the peak of Sarracenia flowering, the bees are
effectively monotropic, visiting only Sarracenia species, at least where
there are large stands of flowers [9].  Bare ground is vital for
seedling establishment [12].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Pitcher-plant characteristically occurs in bogs, savannas, and
flatwoods.  The very wettest parts of bogs are favored, often
restricting the species to the edges of bogs [18].  Pitcher-plant forms
dense, floating mats on the water at the edges of bog ponds and lakes
and across acid streams [9,12,22].  Along the Gulf Coast Sarracenia
species are often associated with Sphagnum, sundew (Drosera sp.),
butterwort (Pinguicula sp.), pipewort (Eriocaulon sp.), bladderwort
(Utricularia sp.), grass-pink (Calopogon sp.), burmannia (Burmannia
sp.), and other genera characteristic of acid sites [18].

Pitcher-plant is adapted to poor soils that are deficient in trace
elements such as molybdenum.  These elements may be obtained from the
captured insects and amphibians [19].  Soils are usually highly acidic
and unsuitable for many other plants.  Pitcher-plant, however, does not
require acidic soils for growth, and it occasionally occurs in alkaline
marl bogs around the Great Lakes [22,23].  Both ombrotrophic and
minerotrophic peat sites are occupied [3].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

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 [6].
Pitcher-plant is successional to sphagnum in the bogs of Isle Royale,
Michigan [4].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Pitcher-plant begins flowering along the Gulf Coast in early to
mid-March.  Farther north, blooming occurs from late July to early
August [18].  The leaves, or pitchers, are produced each year from stems
arising from the rhizomes and remain evergreen unless unduly exposed
[22].  Individual rhizomes may live for 20 to 30 years [18].

Related categories for Species: Sarracenia purpurea | Pitcher-Plant