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Return to the Endangered Plants of the Southeastern US Database

Endangered Species of the Western US Database



Yellow Pitcherplant

Sarracenia flava




safl
 pitcherplant_grove
 yellow_pitcherplant



State Heritage Status Rankings

Alabama (S4), Florida (SNR), Georgia (S3S4), New Jersey (SNA), North Carolina (S3S4), South Carolina (SNR), Virginia (S1)



 
Description:

Yellow pitcherplant is a perennial carnivorous herb obtaining a height of approximately 95 cm. The greenish-yellow leaves (pitchers) are trumpet-shaped, hollow, and approximately 25 to 95 cm in height by 1 to 5 cm in width at the orifice (pitcher opening). The pitchers are gradually narrowed to the base and have sub-erect hoods exhibiting a reddish-purple splotch at the base. The phyllodes, which are produced following flowering and are sword-shaped. The phyllodes are 12 to 30 cm in length and may persist through the winter months or becoming brown and dried. In mid-March to April, prior to leaf development, nodding flowers are produced on long, solitary leafless stalks. The sepals, five in number, are green and the five yellow, ovate petals are 5.0 to 8.5 cm in length and quickly fall off. The umbrella-shaped style (style-disk), distinctive in pitcher plant species, is 6 to 8 cm in diameter in this species. From May to July the fruit develops as a globose capsule approximately 1.5 to 2.0 cm in diameter containing numerous, tiny seeds (Patrick et. al. 1995).

Habitat:

Yellow pitcherplant inhabits wet pine savannas and flatwoods, pond cypress swamps, bogs, pineland seepage slopes and titi thickets (Godfrey and Wooten 1981).

Range:

Yellow pitcherplant is found in the coastal plain and isolated piedmont locations from southeastern Virginia to northern Florida to southern Alabama and southeastern Mississippi (Godfrey and Wooten 1981).





References

  • NatureServe. 2003. Internet Resource. NatureServe.

  • Godfrey, R. K. and J. W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Southeastern United States: Dicotyledons. The University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia. P. 196.

  • Patrick, T.S., Allison, J.R., and Krakow, G.A. 1995. Protected Plants of Georgia: AN INFORMATION MANUAL ON PLANTS DESIGNATED BY THE STATE OF GEORGIA AS ENDANGERED, THREATENED, RARE, OR UNUSUAL. Georgia Natural Heritage Program. Internet Resource. Protected Plants of Georgia.

  • Radford, A.E., Ahles, H.E., Bell, C.R. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

  • USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5. Internet Resource USDA Plants Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

  • Weakley, A.S. July 2002. Flora of the Carolinas and Virginia, Working Draft. Internet Resource. Flora of the Carolinas and Virginia.