Sarracenia rosea Naczi, Case & R.B. Case

Purple Pitcher Plant; Side Saddle Pitcher Plant; Devil's Boot

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Purple Pitcher Plant is a native herbaceous perennial in the Pitcher-Plant family (Sarraceniaceae). It is native to the southern third of Alabama. Purple Pitcher Plant occurs in bogs, along streams, in seeps, in low pine woods, and on roadsides. It is a perennial from a short rhizome. The leaves are decumbent, hollow, tubular in shape with a wide orifice and an erect or arched hood. The leaves are green suffused with reddish purple and with dark red veins. The leaves are pubescent with downward pointing hairs. The hollow interior of the leaf in partially filled with rain water and digestive enzymes. Insects drown in the fluid and are digested by the plant. Phyllodia (non-trap leaves) are not produced. Nodding flowers are solitary on a short scape. The 5 persistent sepals are purple-red in color. The 5 pink to nearly white petals droop between the lobes of the enlarged style disc. The fruit is a capsule. Purple Pitcher Plant is available from nurseries specializing in carnivorous plants. It requires a wet acidic soil in full sun. It is one of the easiest of the insectivorous plants to grow in cultivation.—A. Diamond.

Until this species was described and named in 1999 (cited above), the name Sarracenia purpurea was misapplied to all specimens of what ultimately became S. rosea. Sarracenia purpurea is not thought to naturally occur in Alabama. Specimens below identified as S. purpurea should be annotated to S. rosea.

Native S3 (State Rank) G5 (Global Rank)

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