''Sarracenia purpurea'', the purple pitcher plant, northern pitcher plant, turtle socks, or side-saddle flower, is a

carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods, and occasionally small mammals and birds. They have adapted to grow in waterlo ...

in the family Sarraceniaceae.

Taxonomy

The species is further divided into two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

, ''S. purpurea'' subsp. ''purpurea'' and ''S. purpurea'' subsp. ''venosa''. The former is found north of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

north, while the latter is found south of

and tolerates warmer temperatures. SarraceniaPurpureaClusius

In 1999, ''Sarracenia purpurea'' subsp. ''venosa'' var. ''burkii'' was described as a species of its own: '' Sarracenia rosea''. This re-ranking has been debated among

enthusiasts since then, but further morphological evidence has supported the split. The following species and infraspecific

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

are usually recognized: *''Sarracenia purpurea'' subsp. ''purpurea'' **''Sarracenia purpurea'' subsp. ''purpurea'' f. ''heterophylla'' **''Sarracenia purpurea'' subsp. ''purpurea'' f. ''ruplicola'' (invalid) *''Sarracenia purpurea'' subsp. ''venosa'' **''Sarracenia purpurea'' subsp. ''venosa'' var. ''burkii'' ''S. rosea''***''Sarracenia purpurea'' subsp. ''venosa'' var. ''burkii'' f. ''luteola'' **''Sarracenia purpurea'' subsp. ''venosa'' var. ''montana''

Carnivory

Like other species of ''

Sarracenia ''Sarracenia'' ( or ) is a genus comprising 8 to 11 species of North American pitcher plants, commonly called trumpet pitchers. The genus belongs to the family Sarraceniaceae, which also contain the closely allied genera '' Darlingtonia'' and '' ...

'', ''S. purpurea'' obtains most of its nutrients through prey capture. However, prey acquisition is said to be inefficient, with less than 1% of the visiting prey captured within the pitcher. Even so, anecdotal evidence by growers often shows that pitchers quickly fill up with prey during the warm summer months. Prey fall into the pitcher and drown in the rainwater that collects in the base of each leaf. Prey items, such as

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

s, and even

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s or hornets, are then digested by an invertebrate community, made up mostly by the mosquito ''

Wyeomyia smithii ''Wyeomyia smithii'', the pitcher plant mosquito, is an inquiline mosquito that completes its pre-adult life cycle in the phytotelma (water-filled cavity) of the purple pitcher plant, ''Sarracenia purpurea''. In this microcommunity of bacteria, r ...

'' and the midge '' Metriocnemus knabi''. The relationship between ''W. smithii'' and ''S. purpurea'' is an example of

commensalism Commensalism is a long-term biological interaction (symbiosis) in which members of one species gain benefits while those of the other species neither benefit nor are harmed. This is in contrast with mutualism, in which both organisms benefit fr ...

Protist A protist ( ) or protoctist is any eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, land plant, or fungus. Protists do not form a natural group, or clade, but are a paraphyletic grouping of all descendants of the last eukaryotic common ancest ...

rotifer The rotifers (, from Latin 'wheel' and 'bearing'), sometimes called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera ) of microscopic and near-microscopic Coelom#Pseudocoelomates, pseudocoelomate animals. They were first describ ...

s (including '' Habrotrocha rosa''), and bacteria form the base of

inquiline In zoology, an inquiline (from Latin ''inquilinus'', "lodger" or "tenant") is an animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species. For example, some organisms, such as insects, may live in the ...

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Position in the food web, or trophic level, is used in ecology to broadly classify organisms as autotrophs or he ...

that shreds and mineralizes available prey, making nutrients available to the plant. New pitcher leaves do produce

digestive enzyme Digestive enzymes take part in the chemical process of digestion, which follows the mechanical process of digestion. Food consists of macromolecules of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats that need to be broken down chemically by digestive enzymes ...

s such as

hydrolase In biochemistry, hydrolases constitute a class of enzymes that commonly function as biochemical catalysts that use water to break a chemical bond: :\ce \quad \xrightarrowtext\quad \ce This typically results in dividing a larger molecule into s ...

s and

protease A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalysis, catalyzes proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the formation of new protein products ...

s, but as the individual leaves get older into their second year, digestion of prey material is aided by the community of bacteria that live within the pitchers.Rice, Barry. (2007)
About ''Sarracenia purpurea'', the purple pitcher plant
The Carnivorous Plant FAQ. Accessed online: 21 June 2008.

Vertebrate prey

''S. purpurea'' traps juvenile eastern newts with enough regularity that nearly 20% of plants in an

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

population were found to contain one or more salamanders in a 2019 study. The salamanders were observed to die within three to nineteen days, and may be killed as the small pools of water in the plant are heated by the sun. A single salamander could provide hundreds to thousands of times the nutrients of invertebrate prey, but it is not known how efficiently ''S. purpurea'' is able to digest them. This behaviour has also been recorded occurring in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Distribution

Species of ''Sarracenia'' grow in nutrient-poor, acid bogs. ''S. purpurea'''s range includes the Eastern seaboard, the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian– American region centered on the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Ca ...

, all of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

(except Nunavut and Yukon), Washington state, and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. That makes it the most common and broadly distributed

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of pitcher plant are considered to be "true" pitcher plants and are formed by specialized ...

, as well as the only member of the genus that inhabits cold temperate climates. How the species traveled so far is still a mystery. From what is known so far the Sarracenia has a median seed dispersal distance of 5 cm (2 inches), which is not far enough to explain the plant’s widespread occurrence throughout North America. It is endangered or vulnerable over much of the southern part of its range. Most varieties along the

Gulf Coast of the United States The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states th ...

that were once identified as ''Sarracenia purpurea'' have since been reclassified as '' Sarracenia rosea''. It is an introduced and naturalized species in Europe and the northwestern US. It is found in habitats of the native carnivorous species ''

Darlingtonia californica ''Darlingtonia californica'' —also called the California pitcher plant, the Oregon pitcher plant, cobra lily or cobra plant—is a species of carnivorous plant in the new world pitcher plant family, Sarraceniaceae. It is the sole species wit ...

'', in the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

and northern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

. The plant has also been recorded in

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In Britain and Ireland purple pitcher plant have been introduced into some heather-rich peatbogs and with the mild climate have integrated into the local flora of some specific areas. But observations made by researchers throughout almost a century have seen no signs of the plant spreading to other bogs, because of the highly fragmented distribution of bogs in Britain and Ireland.

Uses

Symbolic

The species is the floral emblem of the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

since 1954.

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

was the first to select the plant as a provincial symbol to be portrayed on the province's penny until 1938.

Ornamental

''Sarracenia purpurea'' is cultivated as an ornamental plant. It is fairly hardy, but requires a reliably damp soil in a sheltered position, with full or partial sunlight. The

''S. purpurea'' ssp. ''purpurea'' has received the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

Medicinal

It was used as a

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...

by Native American and First Nation tribes in its northeastern and Great Lakes distribution ranges, including the Algonquin,

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

, and Mi'kmaq (Micmac) peoples, primarily for use in treating

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

by means of a root infusion. A 2012 study suggests ''Sarracenia purpurea'' is effective as a treatment for viruses in the

Orthopoxvirus ''Orthopoxvirus'' is a genus of viruses in the family ''Poxviridae'' and subfamily ''Chordopoxvirinae''. Vertebrates, including mammals and humans, and arthropods serve as natural hosts. There are 12 species in this genus. Diseases associated wi ...

family, including the smallpox virus, through inhibition of early virus transcription.

Biocontrol

''Sarracenia purpurea'' pitchers have been investigated as a biocontrol for the Asian Hornet '' Vespa velutina'' in Europe, as they act as natural bottle traps in which hornets have been observed to be trapped. The hybrids used in the study, S. x "Juthatip Soper" and S. x "Evendine", were deemed too unselective, but the researchers proposed that trying other pitcher plant species may be more effective.

Gallery

File:PurplepitcherplantMN.jpg, In Minnesota File:Sarracenia purpurea, Wisconsin, US imported from iNaturalist photo 707039.jpg, In Wisconsin File:Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea, Wisconsin, US imported from iNaturalist photo 707014.jpg, In Wisconsin File:Sarracenia purpurosa france 2007 - 2.jpg, Cultivated ''S. purpurea'', in France File:Sarraceniaceae - Sarracenia purpurea (8303625575).jpg, Flower (back) File:Sarracenia purpurea, Gravenhurst, ON, Canada imported from iNaturalist photo 390313422.jpg, Flower (side), in Ontario File:Fleur Sarracenia purpurea.jpeg, Flower (front), in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

File:Sarracenia purpurea 15-p.bot-sarra.purp-07 (rotated).jpg, Flower cross section File:Sarracenia purpurea, United States imported from iNaturalist photo 443535288 (cropped).jpg, Seed pod File:Sarracenia purpurea seeds, by Omar Hoftun.jpg, Seeds File:The classification of flowering plants (1904) (20469822149).jpg, 1904 anatomical illustration File:Sarracenia purpurea floral anatomy Macfarlane illustration.jpg, 1908 anatomical illustration

References

External links

''Sarracenia purpurea''
at Barry Rice's carnivorous plant FAQ.
Botanical Society of America, ''Sarracenia'' - the Pitcher PlantsUC Photos gallery — ''Sarracenia purpurea''
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1927560 purpurea Carnivorous plants of North America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Plants described in 1753 Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Provincial symbols of Newfoundland and Labrador