Q: Where do pitcher plants (Darlingtonia and Sarracenia) live?
Sarracenia &
Darlingtonia
Sarracenia
A: Darlingtonia populations are restricted to the far west coast of
the USA, specifically the two states of California and Oregon. Its populations are strongly (but not 100%) correlated
with the presence of serpentine outcrops. You can see its range in the
large map of the continental USA, indicated with blue on the
west coast. Click it for a closer view!
I should point out that in addition to the populations along the coast, there are a few inland California populations. In particular,
there are some sites near Mt. Shasta, and a few populations between Lake Almanor and Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada.
Sarracenia species are mostly found along the southeastern edge
of the USA, as you can see from the first map on this page. The
exception to this is Sarracenia purpurea, which ranges widely from the
Atlantic coastal plain of the USA, up along the east coast, into Maine and through Canada. Although I don't show it,
this species even gets to British Columbia. However, my understanding is that over this vast range, there are very few
occurrences of the plant.
Darlingtonia,
California
Sarracenia,
Massachusetts
Darlingtonia,
California
Sarracenia,
South Carolina
On the maps on this page, I have indicated the
presence of more than one species in overlapping ranges using a color
key, which is most easily seen in the close-up map. The numbers next to the color code indicate how many species are denoted
by each color. You can clearly see that the area of greatest species diversity is near Mobile, Alabama, where the red on my map
indicates that as many as six species are in the area.
Silly humans have introduced Sarracenia and Darlingtonia to many
places out of their ranges. They've put Darlingtonia in the Mendocino area and in British Columbia,
and Sarracenia is gadzillions of other places. I do not indicate these introductions.
I noticed with some interest that in his 2002 book, Don Schnell resorted to referring to ranges of plants as
"historical" ranges. This is very reasonable, since these marvelous pitcher plants have been eliminated from most of the
areas they once occurred in.
Finally, I would welcome authoritative corrections to my maps. For example, I'm not really sure that Sarracenia purpurea
ever occurred in Iowa, as I indicate.
Page citations: Juniper, B.E., et al. 1989; Rice, B.A. 2006a;
Schnell, D.E. 1976, 2002a; Teichreb, C. 2006; personal observation.
