purple pitcherplant

Eats wasps too

The small genus Sarracenia has specials ‘organs’ (modified leaves in a shape of a pitcher) by which it catches insects (including large ones such as wasps) and digests them. In everyday language these are being called ‘carnivorous’ plants. All pitcherplants occur in North America but only two species (Sarracenia purpurea and Sarracaenia flava) are frost hardy and are often planted in gardens in the Netherlands.

Carnivorous plants occur on nutrient-poor soils. The insects that fall into the pitchers, drown. The minerals from the digested insects are absorbed by the plant and so provide it with nutrients. The purple pitcherplant has upright pitchers that contain attractants around the edge. The large, nodding flowers are pollinated mainly by bees.

Ecology and habit
The purple pitcherplant prefers boggy areas, often in Sphagnum. It has by far the greatest distribution of all Sarracenia species, namely the whole eastern coastal plain of the United States as far as Canada. Today the plant has become naturalised in a couple of places in west Switzerland, Bavaria, central Ireland and England. 

Since 1995 it has arrived in the Netherlands and is growing in a few damp places. Pitcherplants are easy to cultivate and are popular with amateurs. Most probably this species has been introduced to the wild by a carnivorous plant enthusiast. The purple pitcherplant has survived the winter but has not (yet) spread.

Threat
The FLORON Foundation, which is responsible for botanical research into plant species that appear spontaneously in the wild in the Netherlands, considers this pitcherplant to be a potential invasive exotic. Exotic alien species are those that cannot reach the Netherlands without help and have been introduced into the wild by human activity.

In its native habitat, Sarracenia purpurea is threatened by air pollution (mainly nitrogen) and has been given a ‘protected’ status now that it is on the CITES category II list.