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Return to the Endangered Plants of the Southeastern US Database

Endangered Species of the Western US Database



White-topped Pitcher Plant

Sarracenia leucophylla




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Sarracenia_leucophylla_hood1
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State Heritage Status Ranking

Alabama (S3), Florida (S3), Georgia (S1), Mississippi (S2S3), North Carolina (SE)



 
Description:

White-topped pitcherplant is a perennial carnivorous herb obtaining a height of 25 to 120 cm with hollow trumpet shaped leaves (pitchers). The pitchers grow up to 1 m in height by 1 to 4 cm at the orifice (opening of pitcher) and are green at the base becoming whitish above forming a prominent red to purple spider web like network of veins on the upper portion of the pitchers. The hood cover also exhibits the network venation. The phyllodes (non-pitcher forming leaves) are produced following flowering and are flattened and sword-shaped. The phyllodes are 15 to 20 cm in length, helmet-shaped at the apex, and my overwinter, but generally will not persist through the winter. The flowers which develop from March through April are produced on long, solitary, leafless stalkes. The nodding flowers produce five maroon in color sepals and five petals. The petals, which quickly fall off, are fiddle-shaped and 5 to 7 cm in length. A distinct characteristic of pitcherplant flowers is the umbrella- shaped style which is 6 to 7 cm in diameter in this species. Fruit is produced from May to July and is a globose capsule. The capsule is 1.5 to 2.0 cm in diameter containing numerous, tiny seeds (Patrick et. al., 1995).

Habitat:

White-topped pitcherplant inhabits bogs, wet pine savannas or flatwoods, boggy borders of branch bays and cypress depressions, and boggy areas by small streams in southwest Georgia, the Florida Panhandle west of the Ocklockonee River to southern Alabama and southeastern Mississippi. The photographs pictured above were taken at a white-topped pitcher plant bog located northeast of Mobile, Alabama in a boggy area containing scattered, small pines and a thick herbaceous layer of wetland (OBL, FACW, and FAC) grasses and sedges.

Range:

White-topped pitcherplant is a regional endemic which can be locally abundant. Habitat being converted at a fast rate to pine plantations, stock ponds, etc (NatureServe, 2003).





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. 192.

  • 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.

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