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North American Pitcher Plant
Sarracenia
30.5863, -94.3425
Field Notes
Description:
I saw the north american pitcher plants in the Big Thicket National Preserve, north of Beaumont, TX. Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants with different insect trapping mechanisms. In case of Sarracenia spp, The insects are attracted by a nectar-like secretion on the lip of pitchers, as well as a combination of color and scent. Slippery footing at the pitchers' rim, aided in at least one species by a narcotic drug lacing the nectar, causes insects to fall inside, where they die and are digested by the plant as a nutrient source.
Habitat:
Typically it is warm and temperate. Sarracenia tend to inhabit permanently wet fens, swamps, and grassy plains. These habitats tend to be acidic (low pH) with soil made up of sand and Sphagnum moss. Frequently, the soil will be poor in nutrients, particularly nitrates, and often continuously leached by moving water or made unavailable to the plant roots by the low pH. The plants gain their advantage from their ability to extract nutrients from insect prey in this mineral-poor environment. The plants prefer strong, direct sunlight with no shade.
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