Home / Plants and Wildflowers of the Upper-Midwest / Pitcher Plant

Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

Pitcher Plant | Warner Nature Center, MN| View Enlarged Image

One of Minnesota's three carniverous plant species, the Pitcher Plant thrives in poor soil, and is common in bogs. The red-veined "leaves" of the Pitcher Plant are its digestive centers. The veins contain a kind of nectar bait that attracts insects. Once drawn inside, insects are trapped by the protruding lip on the plant and a layer of fine hairs that curve down to the center of the plant, making it almost impossible for insects to climb out. When they finally give up, they fall into the center of the leaf-pitcher, where dew and rainwater have collected, mixing with the plant's digestive enzymes to form a liquid that could be compared to stomach acid.

Just like other flowering plants, Pitcher Plants require insect pollinators. This can be a problem, of course, as it's hard for a wasp or bee to don juan the Pitcher Plant's bloom while sitting half-digested in its leaf-belly. This is why every 'rosette' of Pitcher Plant leaves only has one flower, and that flower grows on a stem that is usually between six to nine inches taller than the leaves. While the Pitcher Plant can still make meals of grasshoppers, crickets, slugs, snails and other ground-dwelling non-pollinators, the conspicuous red flower draws the attention of bees and other potential benefactors.

While you'd think that the Pitcher Plant is an equal opportunity killer, that's not completely true. Certain insects appear to have found ways around the plant's deadly effects. In fact, there is a certain strain of non-biting mosquito (Wyeomyia smithii) that only lays its eggs in the Pitcher Plant. The larvae have it easy; not only can they survive in the plant's digestive juices, they also get an all-you-can eat-half-digested-cricket buffet.

Multimedia:

Pitcher Plant; Carnivorous Leaf| Warner Nature Center, MN	Pitcher Plant; Unpollinated Flower| Warner Nature Center, MN	Pitcher Plant; Pollinated Flower | Warner Nature Center, MN

Add to our growing wildlife encyclopedia! Submit a photo or other footage of this species!*

Want to Learn More?

In an effort to make our site as comprehensive as possible, we have supplemented our online park and wildlife survey with other educational resources. Every book we recommend has been hand-picked by a Beyond Main Street volunteer. 7.5% of all proceeds from the links below go to help Beyond Main Street build a larger, more comprehensive site!

	Wildflowers of Minnesota
	Trees of Minnesota

*Submissions are full and credited property of their original owner. The name of the sender will be printed below the submission unless otherwise requested. BMS maintains one-time printing rights only. For legal reasons, all video and photography must be your own work. If there is a copyright on it, you must own it. Video, photos, and writing must have been created in Minnesota or surrounding area to be added to our database.