Sarracenia minor

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Hooded pitcher plant

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ericales
Family: Sarraceniaceae
Genus: Sarracenia
Species: S. minor
Binomial name
Sarracenia minor
Walt. (1788)
Sarracenia minor range
Sarracenia minor range
Synonyms
  • Sarracenia adunca
    Sm. (1804)
  • ?Sarracenia galeata
    Bartr. (1791) nom.nud.
  • Sarracenia lacunosa
    Bartr. (1794)
    [=S. leucophylla/S. minor]
  • Sarracenia minor
    auct. non Walt.: Sweet (1832)
    [=S. rubra]
  • Sarracenia variolaris
    Michx. (1803)

Sarracenia minor, also known as the Hooded pitcher plant, is a carnivorous plant in the genus Sarracenia. Like all the Sarracenia, it is native to the New World.

In 1788, the first description of S. minor was written by Thomas Walter. The specific epithet minor means "small" and refers to the typical size of the pitchers. The common name refers to the characteristic lid of this species.

The plant can be found in the coastal regions of northern Florida up to the southern part of North Carolina. An especially large form, with pitchers up to four feet high, grows in the Okefenokee marshes.[1] The species exhibits the southernmost range of any member of the Sarracenia genus extending to fragmented populations surrounding Lake Okeechobe in south-central Florida.

The typical form is a relatively small plant with pitchers 25-35 cm in height. S. minor and S. psittacina are the only species in the genus to employ domed pitchers with translucent white patches that allow light to enter. It has been suggested that the light shining through these patches attracts flying insects further into the pitcher and away from the pitcher's mouth in a similar manner to Darlingtonia californica and two Nepenthes species, N. aristolochioides and N. klossii. The tubes are mostly green throughout, but can also be reddish in the upper part. Flowering occurs from March to May. Flowers are yellow in colour.

[edit] Infraspecific taxa

  • Sarracenia minor var. multipetala Komiya ex Hinode-Kadan (1985) nom.nud.
  • Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis Schnell (2002)

[edit] References

  1. ^ D’Amato, Peter. 1998. The Savage Garden. Berkeley. ISBN 0-89815-915-6
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