Sarracenia rubra
Sarracenia jonesii
red pitcherplant, sweet or red pitcher plant, sweet pitcherplant
mountain sweet pitcher plant
persistent, dying back if frozen, appearing with flowers and continuously all summer, erect, green to flushed red or solid maroon, often red- or purple-veined distally, major veins and crossveins of internal and external surfaces dark maroon-red, without white areolae, (short-petiolate, proximal solid petiolar portion to 1/4 length of pitcher, tapering gradually from base to orifice or sometimes scarcely bulging abaxially in distal portion), (6–)10–52(–57) cm, firm, waxy, external surface glabrous or puberulent, wings 0.5–2 cm;
orifice oval, 0.5–3.5 cm diam., rim green to red or maroon, tightly revolute, with no or distinct indentation distal to wing, sometimes forming spout; recurved adaxially, held beyond and covering orifice, sometimes held close to orifice, green to maroon, faintly red- or maroon-veined, or conspicuously and densely reticulate-veined, all veins of abaxial and adaxial surfaces of hood and neck red to maroon throughout proximal and distal portions, without white areolae, ovate, flat to slightly undulate, 0.7–4.5 × 0.7–4 cm, longer than wide, base attenuate to cordate, scarcely constricted, neck 0.5 cm, margins entire or slightly undulate (proximal margins scarcely reflexed), apiculum 1–3 mm, adaxial surface with hairs to 0.5 mm.
persistent, appearing with flowers, producing similar pitchers through summer, erect, (long-petiolate, basal 1/4–1/3 of tube solid, without open cavity, tapering distally to form hollow tube and distinctly bulging abaxially mostly in distal 1/4 of tube), green, usually reddish or purple-veined adaxially, rarely with an overall deep maroon-purple suffusion, without white areolae, 21–73 cm, firm, waxy, external surface glabrous, wings 0.2–1(–1.5) cm wide;
orifice oval, 1–4 cm diam., rim maroon, tightly revolute, usually with slight to distinct indentation distal to wing often forming conspicuous spout extending over wing;
hood recurved adaxially, held well beyond and covering orifice, red-purple, veins on adaxial and abaxial surfaces distinctive, red-purple throughout, without white areolae, broadly ovate, undulate, 2.4–6.5 × 2.4–5.4 cm, longer than wide, base cordate, neck not constricted, 0.5–1 cm, apiculum 1–4 mm, adaxial surface glabrate or with hairs to 0.5 mm.
absent.
absent.
1–2, from 1 bud, 12–75 cm, usually 1.5–2(–3) times height of tallest pitchers;
bracts 0.4–1 cm.
1–2, 32–70 cm, rarely exceeding tallest pitchers;
bracts 1–2 cm.
strongly fragrant;
sepals maroon, 1.5–2.7 × 2–2.6 cm, (margins strongly reflexed abaxially after anthesis);
petals maroon to red, distal portion obovate, 2.5–4 × 1.3–2.5 cm, margins erose;
style disc greenish, 2–3.5 cm diam.
moderately fragrant;
sepals maroon, 2.5–3.5 × 1.5–2 cm;
petals maroon, distal portion obovate, 2.5–4 × 1.2–2.8 cm, margins erose;
style disc green, 2.5–4 cm diam.
0.5–1.5 cm diam.
0.6–1.2 cm diam.
1.2–1.5 mm.
1.2–1.5 mm.
= 26.
= 26.
Sarracenia rubra
Sarracenia jonesii
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
S. McDaniel (1971) stated that his broad concept of Sarracenia rubra included four intergrading regional variants. F. W. Case and R. B. Case (1976) treated the S. rubra complex as comprising four taxa: S. alabamensis subsp. alabamensis, S. alabamensis subsp. wherryi, S. jonesii, and S. rubra. D. E. Schnell (1977) distinguished the same taxa, all as subspecies, and later described an additional one, subsp. gulfensis, which differs quantitatively from typical S. rubra. See discussion under S. alabamensis.
The relative proportion of the proximal tube interior (petiole region) that is solid helps distinguish Sarracenia rubra from S. jonesii. Some specimens of subsp. rubra from the fall line of South Carolina can be large and robust like S. jonesii.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Sarracenia jonesii occurs in seepage bogs in the low mountains in southwestern North Carolina (Buncombe, Henderson, and Transylvania counties) and in seeps along gentle waterfalls on the adjacent South Carolina Blue Ridge escarpment (Greenville and Pickens counties). Within its native range, populations have been introduced and naturalized. It can form clumps to 0.5 m across in meadowlike seepage bogs. It is rare and vulnerable. Most of its prime locations have disappeared since 1950 due to development. It is federally listed as endangered and worthy of managed protection. Anthocyanin-free plants, with yellowish-green flowers and pitchers, are known in the wild. Plants from some locations can be vegetatively similar to other members of the S. rubra complex from the fall line of South Carolina or the Gulf Coast, or even some plants of S. alata hybrids west of Mobile Bay, Alabama, with bulges in the distal portions of their tubes. Always check the largest, well-grown pitchers for traits, and correlate with floral characters. Sarracenia jonesii is readily distinguished from S. rubra by its longer, solid petioles and scapes about as long as the pitchers.
Sarracenia jonesii is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Pitchers (6-)12-30(-50) cm, gradually tapering from base to orifice; orifices 0.5-2.5 cm diam.; hood length-to-width ratio 1-4.3; scapes 12-66 cm; sc Georgia, e North Carolina, e South Carolina. | subsp. rubra |
1. Pitchers (20-)25-52(-57) cm, gradually tapering from base to orifice with slight distal bulge; orifices 2.4-3.5 cm diam.; hood length-to-width ratio 0.8-1.5; scapes 26-75 cm; w Florida panhandle and adjacent Alabama and sw Georgia. | subsp. gulfensis |
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