Sarracenia purpurea

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Sarracenia purpurea
Sarracenia purpurea Flowers.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Sarraceniaceae
Genus: Sarracenia
Species:
S. purpurea
Binomial name
Sarracenia purpurea
L.
Sarracenia purpurea range.png
Sarracenia purpurea range in the USA and Canada
Beetle Lebia grandis trapped inside pitcher Lebia grandis.jpg
Beetle Lebia grandis trapped inside pitcher

Sarracenia purpurea, the purple pitcher plant, northern pitcher plant, turtle socks, or side-saddle flower, is a carnivorous plant in the family Sarraceniaceae.

Contents

Sarracenia purpurea, St-Narcisse, Quebec, Canada Sarracenia purpurea 009.jpg
Sarracenia purpurea, St-Narcisse, Quebec, Canada

Description

Like other species of Sarracenia , S. purpurea obtains most of its nutrients through prey capture. [1] However, prey acquisition is said to be inefficient, with less than 1% of the visiting prey captured within the pitcher. [2] 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, ants, spiders, and even moths or hornets, are then digested by an invertebrate community, made up mostly by the mosquito Wyeomyia smithii and the midge Metriocnemus knabi .[ citation needed ] The relationship between W. smithii and S. purpurea is an example of commensalism. [3]

Oldest known illustration of Sarracenia purpurea, from Clusius's Rariorum plantarum historia, cf. 18, 1601 SarraceniaPurpureaClusius.jpg
Oldest known illustration of Sarracenia purpurea, from Clusius's Rariorum plantarum historia, cf. 18, 1601
Seeds Sarracenia purpurea seeds, by Omar Hoftun.jpg
Seeds

S. purpurea also traps juvenile spotted salamanders with enough regularity that nearly 20% of surveyed plants 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. [4]

Protists, rotifers (including Habrotrocha rosa ), and bacteria form the base of inquiline food web that shreds and mineralizes available prey, making nutrients available to the plant. [5] [6] [7] New pitcher leaves do produce digestive enzymes such as hydrolases and proteases, 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. [8] [9]

Pitchers
Sarracenia purpurosa france 2007 - 2.jpg
Sarracenia purpurea Vertical.JPG
PurplepitcherplantMN.jpg
Flowers
Sarraceniaceae - Sarracenia purpurea (8303625575).jpg
Fleur Sarracenia purpurea.jpeg
Sarracenia purpurea Flower Underneath.JPG

Distribution

Species of Sarracenia grow in nutrient-poor, acid bogs. [10] Its range includes the Eastern seaboard, the Great Lakes region, all of Canada (except Nunavut and Yukon), Washington state, and Alaska. [11] That makes it the most common and broadly distributed pitcher plant, as well as the only member of the genus that inhabits cold temperate climates. How the Sarracenia traveled so far is still a mystery. From what is known so far the Sarracenia has a median seed dispersal distance of 5cm, which is not far enough to explain the plant’s widespread occurrence throughout North America. [12] It is endangered or vulnerable over much of the southern part of its range. [13] Most varieties along the Gulf Coast of the United States 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. [14] It is found in habitats of the native carnivorous species Darlingtonia californica , in the Klamath Mountains and northern Sierra Nevada. [15] The plant has also been recorded in Washington state, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. [14] [16] 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. [17] [18]

Taxonomy

The species is further divided into two subspecies, S. purpurea subsp. purpurea and S. purpurea subsp. venosa. The former is found from New Jersey north, while the latter is found from New Jersey south and tolerates warmer temperatures.

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 carnivorous plant enthusiasts since then, but further morphological evidence has supported the split. [19] The following species and infraspecific taxa are usually recognized:

Uses

Symbolic

The species is the floral emblem of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1954. Queen Victoria was the first to select the plant as a provincial symbol to be portrayed on the province's penny until 1938. [21]

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 subspecies S. purpurea ssp. purpurea has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [22]

Medicinal

It was used as a medicinal plant by Native American and First Nation tribes in its northeastern and Great Lakes distribution ranges, including the Algonquin, Cree, Iroquois, and Mi'kmaq (Micmac) peoples, [23] primarily for use in treating smallpox by means of a root infusion. [24] A 2012 study suggests Sarracenia purpurea is effective as a treatment for viruses in the Orthopoxvirus family, including the smallpox virus, through inhibition of early virus transcription. [25]

Biocontrol

Sarracenia purpurea pitchers have been investigated as a biocontrol for the Asian Hornet Vespa velutina in Europe, [26] 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. [27] [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pitcher plant</span> Carnivorous plant

Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants that have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher plants are formed by specialized leaves. The plants attract and drown the prey with nectar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarraceniaceae</span> Family of carnivorous plants

Sarraceniaceae are a family of pitcher plants, belonging to order Ericales.

<i>Sarracenia</i> Genus of carnivorous plants

Sarracenia 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 Heliamphora.

<i>Heliamphora</i> Genus of carnivorous plants

The genus Heliamphora contains 24 species of pitcher plants endemic to South America. The species are collectively known as sun pitchers, based on the mistaken notion that the heli of Heliamphora is from the Greek helios, meaning "sun". The name instead derives from the Greek helos, meaning "marsh", so a more accurate translation of their scientific name would be marsh pitcher plants. Species in the genus Heliamphora are carnivorous plants that consist of a modified leaf form that is fused into a tubular shape. They have evolved mechanisms to attract, trap, and kill insects; and control the amount of water in the pitcher. At least one species produces its own proteolytic enzymes that allows it to digest its prey without the help of symbiotic bacteria.

<i>Darlingtonia californica</i> Species of carnivorous plant

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 within its monotypic genus, Darlingtonia. The cobra lily is native to Northern California and Oregon, in the western United States, where the climate—while typically thought of as cool and humid—may be quite arid for many months of the year, more so than many carnivorous or pitcher plant genera could feasibly survive. However, the cobra lily has evolved into life along the West Coast and in the lower Pacific Northwest through its carnivorous adaptions, where it may be found near bogs, vernal pools, on forested rocky slopes, creeks, or near seeps with cold running water, usually on serpentine soils. It has even been observed growing in drainage ditches or on the sides of roads. Despite being fairly commonly cultivated, Darlingtonia is designated as uncommon due to its rarity in the field.

<i>Sarracenia flava</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Sarracenia flava, the yellow pitcherplant, is a carnivorous plant in the family Sarraceniaceae. Like all the Sarraceniaceae, it is native to the New World. Its range extends from southern Alabama, through Florida and Georgia, to the coastal plains of southern Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Populations also exist in the Piedmont, Mendocino County, California and mountains of North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inquiline</span> Animal that lives commensally in the dwelling place of another species

In zoology, an inquiline 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 homes of gophers or the garages of humans and feed on debris, fungi, roots, etc. The most widely distributed types of inquiline are those found in association with the nests of social insects, especially ants and termites – a single colony may support dozens of different inquiline species. The distinctions between parasites, social parasites, and inquilines are subtle, and many species may fulfill the criteria for more than one of these, as inquilines do exhibit many of the same characteristics as parasites. However, parasites are specifically not inquilines, because by definition they have a deleterious effect on the host species, while inquilines have not been confirmed to do so.

<i>Carnivorous Plant Newsletter</i> Academic journal

The Carnivorous Plant Newsletter is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California.

<i>Heliamphora heterodoxa</i> Species of Marsh Pitcher Plant native to Gran Sabana, Venezuela

Heliamphora heterodoxa is a species of marsh pitcher plant native to Venezuela and adjacent Guyana. It was first discovered in 1944 on the slopes interlinking Ptari-tepui and Sororopan-tepui and formally described in 1951.

<i>Heliamphora minor</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Heliamphora minor is a species of marsh pitcher plant endemic to Auyán-tepui in Venezuela. As the name suggests, it is one of the smallest species in the genus. It is closely related to H. ciliata and H. pulchella.

<i>Heliamphora neblinae</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Heliamphora neblinae is a species of marsh pitcher plant endemic to Cerro de la Neblina, Cerro Aracamuni and Cerro Avispa in Venezuela. It is one of the most variable species in the genus and was once considered to be a variety of H. tatei. It is unclear whether or not there is a consensus regarding its status as a species, with at least a few researchers supporting the taxonomic revision that would elevate both H. tatei var. neblinae and H. tatei f. macdonaldae to full species status.

<i>Sarracenia minor</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Sarracenia minor, also known as the hooded pitcherplant, is a perennial, terrestrial, rhizomatous, herbaceous, carnivorous plant in the genus Sarracenia. Like all the Sarracenia, it is native to North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protocarnivorous plant</span> Carnivorous plant that can not digest prey

A protocarnivorous plant, according to some definitions, traps and kills insects or other animals but lacks the ability to either directly digest or absorb nutrients from its prey like a carnivorous plant. The morphological adaptations such as sticky trichomes or pitfall traps of protocarnivorous plants parallel the trap structures of confirmed carnivorous plants.

<i>Sarracenia rosea</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Sarracenia rosea is a species of pitcher plant in the genus Sarracenia and is sometimes known as Burk's southern pitcher plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnivorous plant</span> Plants that consume animals

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 still generate all of their energy from photosynthesis. They have adapted to grow in waterlogged sunny places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs. They can be found on all continents except Antarctica, as well as many Pacific islands. In 1875, Charles Darwin published Insectivorous Plants, the first treatise to recognize the significance of carnivory in plants, describing years of painstaking research.

<i>Wyeomyia smithii</i> Species of mosquito

Wyeomyia smithii, the pitcher plant mosquito, is an inquiline mosquito that completes its pre-adult life cycle in the phytotelma of—that is, the water contained by—the purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. In this microcommunity of bacteria, rotifers, protozoa, and midges, W. smithii is the top-level predator; its presence determines the bacterial species diversity within the pitcher.

<i>Sarraceniaceae of South America</i>

Sarraceniaceae of South America is a monograph on the pitcher plants of the genus Heliamphora by Stewart McPherson, Andreas Wistuba, Andreas Fleischmann, and Joachim Nerz. It was published in September 2011 by Redfern Natural History Productions and covered all species known at the time.

<i>Sarracenia jonesii</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Sarracenia jonesii is a species of pitcher plant endemic to seepage bogs in the appalachian mountains of North Carolina and South Carolina. It is currently only found in ten locations: 4 in North Carolina and 6 in South Carolina. S. jonesii is listed as endangered by the US federal government.

Sarracenia × swaniana is a nothospecies of carnivorous plant from the genus Sarracenia in the family Sarraceniaceae described by hort. and Nichols. It is a hybrid between Sarracenia purpurea subsp. venosa and Sarracenia minor var. minor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarracenin</span> Chemical compound

Sarracenin is an iridoid found in several plant species in the carnivorous family Sarraceniaceae. It also occurs in other non-carnivorous plants such as Strychnos spinosa (Loganiaceae) and Patrinia heterophylla (Caprifoliaceae).

References

  1. ↑ Wakefield AE; Gotelli NJ; Wittman SE; Ellison AM (2005). "Prey addition alters nutrient stoichiometry of the carnivorous plant Sarracenia purpurea". Ecology (abstract). 86 (7): 1737–1743. Bibcode:2005Ecol...86.1737W. doi:10.1890/04-1673.
  2. ↑ Newell SJ; Nastase AJ (1998). "Efficiency of nutrient capture by Sarracenia purpurea (Sarraceniaceae), the Northern Pitcher Plant". American Journal of Botany. 85 (1): 88–91. doi:10.2307/2446558. JSTOR   2446558. S2CID   16021826.
  3. ↑ C. Michael Hogan. 2011. Commensalism. Topic Ed. M.Mcginley. Ed-in-chief C.J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC
  4. ↑ Ceurstemont, Sandrine (2019), Carnivorous plants eat far more salamanders than scientists thought, National Geographic, archived from the original on June 13, 2019, retrieved 31 January 2021
  5. ↑ Heard SB (1994). "Pitcher plant midges and mosquitoes: a processing chain commensalism". Ecology (abstract). 75 (6): 1647–1660. Bibcode:1994Ecol...75.1647H. doi:10.2307/1939625. JSTOR   1939625.
  6. ↑ Mouquet N.; Daufresne T.; Gray S. M.; Miller T. E. (2008). "Modelling the relationship between a pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) and its phytotelma community: mutualism or parasitism?". Functional Ecology. 22 (4): 728–737. Bibcode:2008FuEco..22..728M. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01421.x .
  7. ↑ Peterson C. N.; Day S.; Wolfe B. E.; Ellison A. M.; Kolter R.; Pringle A. (2008). "A keystone predator controls bacterial diversity in the pitcher-plant (Sarracenia purpurea) microecosystem". Environmental Microbiology. 10 (9): 2257–2266. Bibcode:2008EnvMi..10.2257P. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2008.01648.x. PMID   18479443.
  8. ↑ Rice, Barry. (2007). About Sarracenia purpurea, the purple pitcher plant. The Carnivorous Plant FAQ. Accessed online: 21 June 2008.
  9. ↑ Gallie D. R.; Chang S.-C. (1997). "Signal transduction in the carnivorous plant Sarracenia purpurea. Regulation of secretory hydrolase expression during development and in response to resources". Plant Physiology. 115 (4): 1461–1471. doi: 10.1104/pp.115.4.1461 . PMC   158611 . PMID   9414556.
  10. ↑ Chase, Mark W.; Christenhusz, Maarten J. M.; Sanders, Dawn; Fay, Michael F. (2009). "Murderous plants: Victorian Gothic, Darwin and modern insights into vegetable carnivory". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 161 (4): 329–356. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.01014.x .
  11. ↑ "USDA Distribution map of Sarracenia purpurea". USDA Plants Database.
  12. ↑ Ellison, A. M.; Parker, J. N. (2002). "Seed dispersal and seedling establishment of Sarracenia purpurea (Sarraceniaceae)". American Journal of Botany. 89 (6): 1024–1026. doi:10.3732/ajb.89.6.1024. PMID   21665703.
  13. ↑ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0".
  14. 1 2 "Sarracenia purpurea". EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization). Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  15. ↑ Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Sarracenia purpurea − naturalized distribution in California
  16. ↑ "Sarracenia purpurea L." Kewscience. Plants of the World online. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  17. ↑ Agyepong-Parsons, James (January 2021). "Suck Stick Drip". BBC Wildlife. pp. 32–5.
  18. ↑ Foss, P.J. & O'Connell, C.A. (1985). "Notes on the ecology of Sarracenia purpurea L. on Irish peatlands". The Irish Naturalists' Journal. 21 (10): 440–443. JSTOR   25538921.
  19. ↑ Ellison A. M.; Buckley H. L.; Miller T. E.; Gotelli N. J. (2004). "Morphological variation in Sarracenia purpurea (Sarraceniaceae): geographic, environmental, and taxonomic correlates". American Journal of Botany. 91 (11): 1930–1935. doi:10.3732/ajb.91.11.1930. PMID   21652339.
  20. ↑ Hanrahan B.; Miller J. (1998). "History of Discovery: Yellow Flowered Sarracenia purpurea L. subsp. venosa (Raf.) Wherry var. burkii". Carnivorous Plant Newsletter . 27 (1): 14–17. doi: 10.55360/cpn271.bh551 . S2CID   247277687.
  21. ↑ Heritage, Canadian (2017-08-15). "Newfoundland and Labrador". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  22. ↑ "Sarracenia purpurea subsp. purpurea". RHS. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  23. ↑ "Sarracenia purpurea L. Documented uses". Native American Ethnobotany Database.
  24. ↑ Charles Frederick Millspaugh (1892). American Medicinal Plants: An Illustrated and Descriptive Guide to Plants Indigenous to and Naturalized in the United States which are Used in Medicine (illustrated ed.). Courier Corporation. p.  76. ISBN   9780486230344.
  25. ↑ Arndt, William; Mitnik, Chandra; Denzler, Karen L.; White, Stacy; Waters, Robert; Jacobs, Bertram L.; Rochon, Yvan; Olson, Victoria A.; Damon, Inger K.; Langland, Jeffrey O. (2012-03-09). "In Vitro Characterization of a Nineteenth-Century Therapy for Smallpox". PLOS ONE. 7 (3): e32610. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...732610A. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032610 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   3302891 . PMID   22427855.
  26. ↑ Dupont, Corentin; Villemant, Claire; Hatterman, Tom; Pratviel, Jeremie; Gaume, Laurence; Gomez, Doris (2021). "Variation in colour signals among Sarracenia pitcher plants and the potential role of areoles in the attraction of flying Hymenoptera". bioRxiv   10.1101/2021.09.15.460199 .
  27. ↑ "Wycke M-A, Perrocheau R, Darrouzet E (2018) Sarracenia carnivorous plants cannot serve as efficient biological control of the invasive hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax in Europe. Rethinking Ecology 3: 41-50. DOI 10.3897/rethinkingecology.3.28516". Rethinking Ecology. 3: 41–50. 11 December 2018. doi: 10.3897/rethinkingecology.3.28516 . S2CID   91375714.
  28. ↑ "Can carnivorous plants control an invasive hornet?". 20 November 2018.


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