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Green Pitcherplant

Sarracenia oreophila




Sarracenia oreophila colony
 Green Pitcher Plants
 Sarracenia oreophila flowers


Sarracenia oreophila



Status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

Federally Endangered (March 24, 1980)

State Heritage Status Rankings

Alabama (S2), Georgia (S1), North Carolina (S1), Tennessee (SX)



 

Description:

Green pitcherplant is a perennial carnivorous herb arising from underground rhizomes 1 to 1.5 centimeters thick. The leaves (pitchers) are 20 to 75 centimeters in length by 6 to 10 centimeters in circumference at the orifice. The pitchers usually appear during flowering or before, gradually narrowing from the orifice to the base. The pitchers are glabrous, green to yellow-green in color and the reniform to obovate hood is 2 to 8 centimeters in length and strongly revolute at the base. The pitchers are glandular-pubescent inside and either purple-reticulate, purple spotted or yellowish-green at the base. The flower stalk (scape) is 45 to 70 centimeters in length. From mid-March to early June the solitary, nodding yellow flowers develop and are approximately 4 to 5.5 centimeters in length. Its yellow style-disk is 5 to 8.5 centimeters in width. From July to August, the fruit (a globose capsule) develops and is approximately 15 to 18 cm in diameter containing numerous seeds (Patrick et. al. 1995 and USFWS 2003).

After flowering has completed, green pitcher plants produce strongly curved, flattened, sickle-shaped leaves (phyllodes) that are 5 to 18 cm in length, which persist over the winter. The phyllodes may become more numerous than the pitchers in shaded or stressed plants.

Habitat:

Green pitcherplant inhabits poorly drained meadows and bogs in red maple-blackgum swamps, pine-oak flatwoods, in seepy areas within transmission line rights-of-way, or along sandy banks of streams, which are periodically flushed by floodwaters (Patrick et. al. 1995 and USFWS 2003).

Range:

Green pitcherplant is restricted to northeastern Alabama, north Georgia, and southwestern North Carolina. A historical record exists for Tennessee. There are approximately 35 green pitcherplant occurrences known to be extant, with nearly all of them being in Alabama. Half of these have 50 or fewer clumps of plants and only five have over 500. Destruction of habitat, especially from development, have destroyed some populations and led to fire suppression in many areas, but annual burning programs have been established at some sites that support the plant (NatureServe 2003).





References

  • NatureServe. 2003. Internet Resource. NatureServe.

  • 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.

  • USFWS. 2003. Species Profile of Green Pitcher Plant. Internet Resource. Species Profile of Green Pitcher Plant

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