Sarracenia minor Walter

Sarracenia minor Walter

Hooded pitcherplant

by Edgar T. Wherry

Peninsular Florida emerged from the sea only toward the close of the Tertiary age, and as by that time, most of the Sarracenias had apparently lost their ability to colonize new territory, they are not to be looked for in that region. The one exception to this rule is the hooded pitcher plant, which extends far southward over the state, being reported even in Palm Beach County, at latitude 26 degrees North. In other directions its range is more restricted, however; it is the only species which has, so far as known, failed to reach the state of Alabama . It is frequent in southern Georgia, but gradually diminishes in abundance northeastward and barely enters North Carolina.

Such a distribution indicates that the species originated on that part of the Cretaceous peneplain which has since become the Georgia Piedmont. Although unable to survive the geologic changes there, its seeds found their way down the Altamaha River system, and colonized the Coastal Plain. It thrives best in moist meadows or open pinelands, underlain by loamy but intensely acid soil, and as such habitats are common, it has attained a wide range.

Click here for the watercolor by Mary Vaux Walcott.

Click here for USDA's current information and distribution map of this species.

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