Q: About Sarracenia alata, the pale pitcher plant

• 
• 
• 
• 

A: This species is called the "pale" pitcher plant because, well, the species is kind of boring. Do not get me wrong---I love the plant and have spent countless hours admiring it in the field. But let us face the truth squarely---many specimens of S. alata are just a little on the dull side. Even the name "Sarracenia alata" is somewhat uninteresting. It refers to the fact that each pitcher bears an ala, which is the vertical flange that runs along the front of the pitcher. All Sarracenia species have these, so it suggests desperation to name this plant after the structure.

Avoid using "yellow pitcher plant" as a common name, because that invites confusion with Sarracenia flava (the Latin flava means yellow.)

The pitchers are generally tall and erect, with a small lid. They have no amazing or interesting adaptations. (Of course, in my opinion, just being a pitcher plant is a damned fine thing.) The flowers are a light color, usually some kind of cream, greenish, or yellow. However, the occasional variant has extremely pale--even white--flowers, and I have also encountered plants far west in Texas that had a bit of red in their petals. For these Texan plants, you cannot argue effectively that hybridization with other species is an issue, because there are no other Sarracenia species for hundreds of kilometers! Sarracenia alata flowers do not have a smell that I can detect, although some authors claim to detect a number of subtle odors.

• 
• 
• 
• 

I hasten to add that there are some really beautiful variants of S. alata. In Mississippi and Louisiana I have seen deeply colored plants. Some have red lids, others have intensely red vertical veinings, and still others have pitchers that are painted deep red or purplish-black. Very nice! An all-green variant (completely lacking the red pigment anthocyanin) has been detected in Washington County, Alabama. Also, some clones have particularly pubescent pitchers. Collectors have descriptive names for all these, some in bogus Latin form. To date, the only color variant to be given a name is S. alata 'Night,' an all-purplish selection.

It is not always easy to distinguish S. alata from S. rubra in cultivation if they are not in flower. The key is to look at the nature of the pitcher venation. The veins of S. rubra are reticulated---there are vertical veins but also many secondary veins connecting the vertical veins---while the veins of S. alata are mostly (mostly!) just vertical pinstripes. This is a matter of degree, and can be tricky at times to apply. I am sure that if you worked on it, you could find the occasional plant that mimicked the other species, but my statements withstand scrutiny on the population level.

• In cultivation
• Mississipii
• Mississipii
• Texas
• Texas

Sarracenia alata occurs in two broad areas that do not communicate with each other. The western range is mostly in Texas, where it occurs in widely separated sites in sixteen counties---I have seen plants in Tyler, Jasper, and Angelina Counties, and maybe a few more. The western range also includes four parishes in western Louisiana. All told, as of 1989 there were 85 sites for S. alata in the western portion of its range. I have seen some strange variant plants in Texas: plants with strangely shaped pitchers, for example. Plants with pale, semi-tranparent patches (areoles) have also been spotted in Texas.

The eastern range of Sarracenia alata includes three parishes in eastern Louisiana, ten counties in southern Mississippi, and three counties in Alabama near Mobile Bay. A site I have seen in Mississippi is the largest, most extensive population I have ever seen of any Sarracenia. It practically makes me cry every time I have seen it. (Pretty much for the same reason the Horta laments the murdered children in the Vault of Tomorrow. Do not worry if you don't know what I am talking about. You apparently do not remember enough of your Star Trek, and I am ashamed of you.)

Page citations: McPherson, S. 2006; Mazur, C., & Mazur, M. 2004; McDaniel, S. 1971; Rice, B.A. 2006a; Schnell, D.E. 2002a; Sheridan, P.M. 1991; personal observations.