Sarracenia purpurea

Sarracenia Purpurea

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Sarracenia purpurea

Sarracenia purpurea, commonly known as the Purple pitcher plant or Side-saddle flower, is a carnivorous plant

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....
in the family Sarraceniaceae

Sarraceniaceae

Sarraceniaceae is a family of pitcher plants , belonging to order Ericales .The family comprises three Extant taxon genera, Sarracenia , Darlingtonia californica , and Heliamphora , as well as the extinct Archaeamphora longicervia....
. Its range includes almost the entire eastern seaboard

Eastern seaboard

An Eastern seaboard can mean any easternmost part of a continent, or its countries, states and/or cities.Eastern seaboard may also refer to:...
of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, the Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The St. Lawrence River Great Lakes are a chain of fresh water lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada ? United States border. Consisting of Lakes Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth....
, and south eastern Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, making it the most common and broadly distributed pitcher plant

Pitcher plant

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with natural selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over evolutionary time....
, as well as the only member of the genus that inhabits cold temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold....
climates.

The species is the floral emblem of the Canadian

Canada

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is a Provinces and territories of Canada of Canada, on the country's Atlantic Ocean coast in northeastern North America....
.

Like other species of Sarracenia
Sarracenia

Sarracenia is a genus comprising 8 to 11 species of North American pitcher plants. The genus belongs to the family Sarraceniaceae, which also contain the closely allied genera Darlingtonia and Heliamphora....
, S.

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Encyclopedia

Sarracenia purpurea, commonly known as the Purple pitcher plant or Side-saddle flower, is a carnivorous plant
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....
in the family Sarraceniaceae
Sarraceniaceae

Sarraceniaceae is a family of pitcher plants , belonging to order Ericales .The family comprises three Extant taxon genera, Sarracenia , Darlingtonia californica , and Heliamphora , as well as the extinct Archaeamphora longicervia....
. Its range includes almost the entire eastern seaboard
Eastern seaboard

An Eastern seaboard can mean any easternmost part of a continent, or its countries, states and/or cities.Eastern seaboard may also refer to:...
of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, the Great Lakes
Great Lakes

The St. Lawrence River Great Lakes are a chain of fresh water lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada ? United States border. Consisting of Lakes Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth....
, and south eastern Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, making it the most common and broadly distributed pitcher plant
Pitcher plant

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with natural selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over evolutionary time....
, as well as the only member of the genus that inhabits cold temperate
Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold....
climates.

The species is the floral emblem of the Canadian
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
province of Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is a Provinces and territories of Canada of Canada, on the country's Atlantic Ocean coast in northeastern North America....
.

Like other species of Sarracenia
Sarracenia

Sarracenia is a genus comprising 8 to 11 species of North American pitcher plants. The genus belongs to the family Sarraceniaceae, which also contain the closely allied genera Darlingtonia and Heliamphora....
, 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, ant
Ant

Ants are Eusociality insects of the family Formicidae, and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolution from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and Evolutionary radiation after the rise of flowering plants....
s, spider
Spider

Spiders are air-breathing chelicerate arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae modified into fangs that inject venom. In their bodies the usual arthropod segments are fused into two Tagma , the cephalothorax and abdomen, joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel....
s, and even moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
s, are then digested by an invertebrate community, made up mostly by the mosquito Wyeomyia smithii
Wyeomyia smithii

Wyeomyia smithii, the pitcher plant mosquito, is an inquiline invertebrate found only in the phytotelma of the purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea....
and the midge Metriocnemus knabi
Metriocnemus knabi

Metriocnemus knabi, the pitcher plant midge, is an inquiline invertebrate found only in the phytotelma of the purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea....
. Protist
Protist

Protists ; eukaryote microorganisms. Historically, protists were treated as the kingdom Protista but this group is no longer recognized in modern taxonomy....
s, rotifer
Rotifer

The rotifers make up a phylum of microscopic and near-microscopic body cavity animals. They were first described by Rev. John Harris in 1696 and other forms were described by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1703....
s (including Habrotrocha rosa
Habrotrocha rosa

Habrotrocha rosa is a Bdelloidea rotifer that has been found in leaf litter, soil, and moss in Europe and New Zealand and also in North America within the pitchers of Sarracenia purpurea, the purple pitcher plant....
), and bacteria form the base of inquiline
Inquiline

File:Wyeomyia smithii 1.jpgIn zoology, an inquiline is an animal that lives commensalism in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species....
food web that shreds and mineralizes available prey, making nutrients available to the plant. New pitcher leaves do produce digestive enzyme
Digestive enzyme

Digestion enzymes are enzymes that break down polymeric macromolecules into their smaller building blocks. Digestive enzymes are found in the digestive tract of animals or humans where they aid in the digestion of food as well as inside cell , especially in their lysosomes....
s such as hydrolase
Hydrolase

In biochemistry, a hydrolase is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of a chemical bond. For example, an enzyme that catalyzed the following reaction is a hydrolase:...
s and protease
Protease

A protease is any enzyme that conducts proteolysis, that is, begins protein catabolism by hydrolysis of the peptide bonds that link amino acids together in the polypeptide chain, which form a molecule of protein....
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.

Taxonomy

The species is further divided into two subspecies
Subspecies

In biology, subspecies is the taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a species. A subspecies is a taxonomic group which is less distinct than the Common descent or species from which it originates....
, S. purpurea subsp. purpurea and S. purpurea subsp. venosa. The former is found from New Jersey
New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
north and requires a winter dormancy
Dormancy

Dormancy is a period in an Organism Biological life cycle when growth, development, and physical activity is temporarily suspended. This minimizes metabolism and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy....
, while the latter is found from New Jersey
New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
south and tolerates warmer temperatures.

In 1999, Sarracenia purpurea subsp. venosa var. burkii was described as a species of its own: Sarracenia rosea
Sarracenia rosea

Sarracenia rosea is a newly named species that was formally known as Sarracenia purpurea subsp. venosa var. burkii and commonly known as Burke's Southern Pitcher Plant....
. This re-ranking has been debated among carnivorous plant enthusiasts since then, but further morphological evidence has supported the split. The following species and infraspecific taxa are usually recognized:

Sarracenia purpurea subsp. purpurea
Sarracenia purpurea subsp. purpurea f. heterophylla
Sarracenia purpurea subsp. purpurea f. ruplicola
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

External links

on CultureSheet.org