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Parrot Pitcherplant

Sarracenia psittacina




Parrot Pitcherplant
 Sarracenia psittacina
 Sarracenia psittacina colony



State Heritage Status Rankings

Alabama (S4), Florida (S4), Georgia (S2), Louisiana (S3), Mississippi (S4)



 

Description:

Parrot pitcherplant is a perennial, carnivorous herb and one of the smaller members of the genus Sarracenia and is often overlooked. The hollow leaves (pitchers) which overwinter, recline on the ground (occasionally ascending) originating from a basal rosette. The pitchers are 8 to 30 cm in length by 1.0 to 1.3 cm in width. The pitchers are green at the base, red-veined or red toward the top and broadest and prominently winged in the upper portion of the pitcher. The hood is strongly arched, keeled dorsally and the margins are united and inrolled to surround the orifice (pitcher opening) Both the hood and the adjoining leaf area have irregularly spaced small areas of pale greenish or whitish tissue and purplish-reticulate giving the appearance of tiny "windows". From March to May, nodding flowers develop on long, solitary, leafless stalks that rise well above the pitchers up to 35 cm in height. The five sepals are green and maroon, 1.5 to 2.5 cm in length and persist at base of fruit. The five petals are maroon, 2.0 to 4.5 cm in diameter, broadest near the apex, and quickly fall off. The umbrella-shaped style-disk, a distinctive feature in pitcher plant flower, is yellowish-green and 1.8 to 2.6 cm in diameter in this species. From June to July, a globose capsule (fruit) develops and is approximately 1 cm in diameter containing numerous seeds. The best time to search for this species is during flowering as the leaves are generally hidden in the surrounding vegetation.

Habitat:

Parrot pitcherplant inhabits acidic soils of open bays and bogs, titi bogs, wet pine savannas, open, wet, boggy tire ruts, low areas in pine flatwoods, and adjacent boggy roadside shoulders and ditches. The two images on the right were photographed along boggy tire ruts within a transmission line right-of-way in southern, coastal Mississippi. A common associate species were literally hundreds of yellow trumpets (Sarracenia alata). The image on left was taken in a pitcher plant bog in the in the Georgia Coastal Plain.

Range:

Parrot pitcherplant is found in the southern Coastal Plain from the eastern parishes of Louisiana, east to Georgia and south into Florida.





References

  • Godfrey, R. K. and J. W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Southeastern United States. Volume 2. Dicotyledons. University of Georgia Press, Athens. p. 192.

  • 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.