Image: Wikimedia Commons (See link for license)
Pitcher plant family
Sarraceniaceae Dumort.
サラセニア科
A family of carnivorous plants distributed in North and South America, comprising about 30 species in 3 genera: Sarracenia, Darlingtonia, and Heliamphora. They capture and digest insects using tubular pitcher leaves (pitfall traps). Not native to Japan; cultivated as ornamentals.
Key Characteristics
- ●Possess pitfall traps from leaves modified into tubular or pitcher-shaped structures
- ●Interior of traps has digestive glands, downward-pointing hairs, and waxy surfaces to trap insects
- ●Flowers are large and showy, with a distinctive inverted umbrella-shaped pistil
- ●Grow in nitrogen-poor wetland and peatland environments
Morphological Traits
A family may include species with different trait values — multiple values indicate the range within the family.
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf margin
Entire
Growth form
Herb
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Stipules
Absent
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Petal count
3 petals / 6 petals
Ovary position
Superior
Stamen count
3-4
Plant sex
Hermaphrodite
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core Eudicots > Ericales > Sarraceniaceae
Divergence Era
Paleogene (ca. 50 million years ago)
Representative Genera
Related Evolution Events
- ・Modification of leaves into tubular pitcher traps (convergent evolution, independent of Nepenthaceae)
- ・Specialization to nitrogen-poor peat bogs
Plants in Pitcher plant family on this site
AI-generated, needs verification