SARRACENIA FLAVA

Scientific Name: Sarracenia flava L.

Common Name: Pitcher Plant

Family: SARRACENIACEAE

Herbaceous, rhizomatous, insectivorous perennials with hollow leaves usually partially filled with moisture and decayed insects. Flowers perfect, solitary, nodding, scapose, with an expanded, membranaceous style disc. Sepals 5, persistent; petals 5, ligulate or obovate, deciduous; stamens numerous; ovary superior, carpels 5, united. Capsule 5-valved. Occasional natural hybrids are found which are intermediate between the parent species in all respects.

Hollow leaves, trumpet-shaped, 3-10 dm tall, with narrow, linear wing; hood suberect, rounded, 4-7 (14) cm broad, apiculate, margins reflexed. Scape about equaling the leaves; petals bright yellow, 5.5-8 cm long; style disc 3-7 cm in diam; flowers with a strong musty odor. Capsule 10-25 mm in diam. (n=13) March-April; May-June. Bogs and savannahs; primarily coastal plain [Va., Ga., Fla., Ala. Several spectacular stands of these plants still exist at a few localities in the Carolinas.

You can see more information on this family, Sarraceniaceae, from the DELTA collection, on the Biodiversity and Biological Collections server, at the University of Kansas. To visit their server, use the triangular link below.

Visit the DELTA Home Page

Back to the Photo Gallery
Back to the Table of Contents