Family Sarraceniaceae
Description: Herbs, perennial, carnivorous, rhizomatous, sometimes stoloniferous. Stems absent.
Leaves rosette-forming, alternate, developing into hollow tubes (pitchers); stipules absent; petiole clasping, dilated; blade green, yellow-green, reddish or purplish, often distinctly red, pink or green, purple-veined or -blotched, sometimes white-areolate, winged laterally along its length, usually prominently costate, surfaces of pitcher and hood (operculum) glabrous or hairy and minutely glandular; orifice with thickened, revolute rim; hoods variously arranged in association with orifices. Phyllodia present or absent.
Scapes 1 or 2, arising from growing tip of rhizome, bracteate, glabrous. Flowers solitary, bisexual, nodding; perianth and androecium hypogynous; hypanthium absent; sepals 5; petals 5; stamens 15 or 50–100, distinct or slightly fascicled; anthers laterally dehiscent; pistils 1, 5-carpellate; ovary superior, 5-locular; placentation axile to parietal; styles 1, terminal; stigmas 5, distal.
Fruit at capsule, globose to ovoid or obconic, shallowly 5- or 10-lobed, tuberculate, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds 400–1000, irregularly clavate to reniform-obovate; endosperm copious, oily.
Distribution and occurrence: Native to North America (Sarracenia, Darlingtonia) and South America (Heliamphora in Guayana Highlands); 3 genera, 32 species; Australia: 1 species possibly naturalised in NSW. Often cultivated. Grow in wetland habitats, in nutrient-poor, often acidic soil or peat.
External links:
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (Family: Sarraceniaceae, Order: Ericales)
Wikipedia Carnivorous (insectivorous) plants obtaining supplemental nutrition by trapping and digesting insects. The carnivorous leaves are modified leaves with a tube or pitcher-shape, containing water and digestive enzymes which are often associated with commensal bacteria. Insects are lured to the plant by nectar, scent and colour. Once falling into the tube there are often downward-pointing hairs or waxy secretions making it difficult for insects to escape.
Text by P. G. Kodela, Flora of Australia online [accessed 25 May 2023]. Adapted by Kerry Gibbons.
Taxon concept: APG IV.
| One genus in NSW: Sarracenia |
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