Sarracenia minor

Walter

Fl. Carol., 153. 1788 ,.

Common names: Hooded or spotted pitcher plant
Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 8. Treatment on page 357. Mentioned on page 350, 352, 358, 363.

Plants forming dense clumps; rhizomes 1–2 cm diam. Pitchers persistent, appearing well before flowers and continuing in 1 form throughout the summer, erect, green or suffused with red, with prominent, circular, white areolae distally opposite the orifice, usually with flush of reddish pigment in tissue surrounding white, 12–45 (–100) cm, thick, firm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely and unevenly short-pubescent externally, wings 1–3 cm wide; orifice strongly triangular-ovate, 1–3 cm diam., rim red, strongly revolute, without indentation distal to wing; hood strongly convex, arching-recurved adaxially, closely covering orifice, green, flushed bronze-red, or streaked with bronze-red, without white areolae, broadly ovate, not undulate, 1.2–6 cm, ± as long as wide, base continuous with tube, not forming neck, apiculum 1 mm, adaxial surface glabrate or with hairs to 0.5 mm. Phyllodia absent. Scapes 12–55 cm, shorter than longest pitchers; bracts 0.5–1.2 cm, (sometimes alternate within 1 cm of sepals and not appressed to sepals). Flowers odorless or faintly fragrant; sepals yellowish green, 1.5–3.5 × 1.5–3.5 cm; petals yellow, distal portion narrowly obovate, 3–5 × 1–3 cm, margins entire; style disc pale-yellow, 2.5–4.5 cm diam. Capsules 0.8–1.8 cm diam. Seeds 1.1–1.3 mm. 2n = 26.


Phenology: Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat: Moist to wet pine flatwoods and savannas, roadsides through similar habitats, floating peat mats
Elevation: 0-90 m

Discussion

Sarracenia minor is the most distinctive species of the genus, with its translucent spots and strongly arching hoods. It is clearly identifiable throughout its range on the coastal plain from southeastern North Carolina to Okeechobee County, Florida, and westward to southeastern Georgia and Gulf County, Florida, and may grow in some of the driest as well as wettest habitats for Sarracenia. It is also more tolerant of shade than most species of the genus. Ants are frequently the exclusive prey of S. minor (D. Fish 1976); they climb up the wing to get nectar from the orifice rim, are attracted to the interior by the translucent areolae, and fall into the tube.

Within the boundaries of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Georgia, plants of Sarracenia minor grow on marginal mats of sphagnum along wet ditches and on the floating islands of vegetation in the heart of the swamp. Plants in the Okefenokee Swamp are much larger than normal, form robust clumps with pitchers to 120 cm, tend to flower two weeks later, and have the proximal petiolelike (nonwinged) portions of the pitchers 12–21 (average 17) cm long as compared to the more typical S. minor petioles, which are 3–11 (average 6) cm long. It is not known whether their gigantism is due to genetic or environmental factors, or both. The chromosome number of the Okefenokee plants is the normal 2n = 26, not tetraploid (Mellichamp, pers. obs.). They may be recognized as var. okefenokeensis D. E. Schnell. See D. E. Schnell 2002 for other differences. Such robust specimens are found elsewhere throughout the range of S. minor; there is no pattern that would suggest further taxonomic recognition.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"not" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property."winged" is not a number."variable" is not a number.

... more about "Sarracenia minor"
with hairs +  and glabrate +
not versatile +  and dorsifixed +
rounded;rounded;rounded;obtuse;obtuse;rounded +
T. Lawrence Mellichamp +  and Frederick W. Case +
Walter +
costate +  and purple-veined +
blotched +, green +, pink +, red +, purplish +, reddish +  and yellow-green +
ovate-oblong +, ovate-triangular +  and arched +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (1.8 cm18 mm <br />0.018 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
globose +  and ovoid +
not stoloniferous +
mat-forming +
Hooded or spotted pitcher plant +
umbrellalike +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
Fla. +, Ga. +, N.C. +  and S.C. +
0-90 m +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
fragrant +  and odorless +
loculicidal +
tuberculate +
globose;ovoid or obconic shallowly 5-lobed or 10-lobed +
Moist to wet pine flatwoods and savannas, roadsides through similar habitats, floating peat mats +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br />) +
streaked with bronze-red +, flushed bronze-red +  and green +
arching-recurved +
not undulate +, ovate +  and convex +
1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
elliptic +, ovate +, orbiculate +  and obovate +
rosette-forming +
reflexed +  and pendulous +
notched +
erose +  and entire +
distinct +
partly to completely covered by hood +  and gaping +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
triangular-ovate +
axile +  and parietal +
5-lobed +, globose +  and conic +
tenuinucellate +  and bitegmic +
distinct +
Flowering Mar–May. +
falcate +  and oblanciform +
not twisted +  and monomorphic +
white +, suffused with red +  and green +
tapering +  and tubiform +
cordate;attenuate +
Fl. Carol., +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
vertical +  and horizontal +
deltate +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br /> (55 cm550 mm <br />0.55 m <br />) +
tuberculate +  and reticulate-tuberculate +
keeled;irregularly clavate;reniform-obovate +
0.11 cm1.1 mm <br />0.0011 m <br /> (0.13 cm1.3 mm <br />0.0013 m <br />) +
yellowish green +
persistent +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
ovate;ovate-triangular +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
50 +  and 100 +
filiform +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (4.5 cm45 mm <br />0.045 m <br />) +
expanded +
short-pubescent +, sparsely +  and glabrous +
Sarracenia minor +
Sarracenia +
species +
reddish pigment +
scapose +, stoloniferous +  and rhizomatous +
1cm;3cm +