''Sarracenia rosea'' is a species of

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 ...

in the genus ''

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 '' ...

'' and is sometimes known as Burk's southern pitcher plant.

Taxonomy

It was previously classified as a variety of '' S. purpurea'' subsp. ''venosa'' (var. ''burkii''). The proposition for the plant to be named a new species arose in 1999. This proposition was based on three main factors: ''S. rosea'' has larger flowers on shorter stalks; it produces light pink petals, a feature no other species in the genus exhibits; and it has a somewhat different pitcher structure than ''S. purpurea''.Rice, B.A. 2006
The Carnivorous Plant FAQ: ''Sarracenia rosea''
Accessed 1 June 2007. A form which lacks

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are solubility, water-soluble vacuole, vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart named a chemical compou ...

s has been described as ''Sarracenia rosea'' f. ''luteola''.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to the

Gulf Coast 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 coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...

of the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

, and has been found from

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. However, the areas in which the plant occurs are being developed, so the species's habitat is threatened. Along with ''

Sarracenia psittacina ''Sarracenia psittacina'', also known as the parrot pitcherplant, is a carnivorous plant in the genus '' Sarracenia''. Like all the ''Sarracenia'', it is native to North America, in the Southeastern United States. ''Sarracenia psittacina'' emp ...

'', however, this species readily colonizes drainage ditches along highways throughout the gulf states. This provides a somewhat more sustainable, albeit less natural, habitat. However, even with the drainage ditch habitat, there is danger from DOT ROW spraying of miscellaneous herbicides, primarily growth-suppressants and broadleaf killers. ''S. rosea'' is appreciably more shade-tolerant than the other members of the genus.

Botanical history

''Sarracenia rosea'' was first identified by the American botanist Edgar T. Wherry as a "mutant" form of '' S. purpurea'' in 1933 based on specimens collected by Frank Morton Jones in 1910 near Theodore, Alabama and Wherry's own collections in 1932, likely also from southern Alabama. These plants differed from ''S. purpurea'' in the rose-pink petals and nearly white

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

(''S. purpurea'' has deep maroon petals and the style is typically green). Wherry sent specimens to Louis Burk, a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

horticulturalist, who confirmed Wherry's field observations in greenhouse-grown plants. Wherry followed this revelation and suggested naming the variety in honor of Burk, but it remained unpublished.Schnell, D.E. 1993
''Sarracenia purpurea'' L. ssp. ''venosa'' (Raf.) Wherry var. ''burkii'' Schnell (Sarraceniaceae)—a new variety of the Gulf coastal plain.
''Rhodora'' 95: 6-10. Based on the morphological differences from the southern subspecies, ''S. purpurea'' subsp. ''venosa'', and the geographic isolation of the populations with pink petals along the Gulf Coast, the American botanist Donald E. Schnell formally described this taxon in a 1993 issue of '' Rhodora'', the journal of the New England Botanical Club. Schnell decided to place this taxon at the rank of variety below subsp. ''venosa'' as ''S. purpurea'' var. ''burkii'', honoring Louis Burk as Wherry had suggested 60 years earlier. In 1999, however, botanists Robert Naczi, then a professor of biology at Northern Kentucky University, and Frederick and Roberta Case elevated the variety to species rank, naming it ''Sarracenia rosea''. They compiled morphological data from specimens of ''S. purpurea'' and ''S. rosea'' and found significant differences in scape height, petal size, pitcher "lip" thickness, and pitcher leaf morphology. All of this evidence, combined with the

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

distribution that does not overlap with ''S. purpurea'', lead the authors to determine the Gulf Coast populations with pink petals are worthy of recognition at species rank. They chose to assign a new epithet, ''rosea'', to the species rather than utilize the varietal epithet ''burkii'' as allowed under article 11.2 of the ''

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

'' to avoid confusion and express the color of the flowers in the species epithet.Naczi, R.F.C., E.M. Soper, F.W. Case Jr., and R.B. Case. 1999
''Sarracenia rosea'' (Sarraceniaceae), a new species of pitcher plant from the Southeastern United States.
''SIDA'' 18: 1183-1206.

References

External links

at Barry Rice's carnivorous plant FAQ.
UC Photos gallery — ''Sarracenia rosea''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5860768 rosea Carnivorous plants of North America Endemic flora of the United States Flora of Alabama Flora of Florida Flora of Georgia (U.S. state) Flora of Mississippi Plants described in 1993 Flora without expected TNC conservation status