Pitcher plants in North Carolina all belong to the genus Sarracenia. All members of the genus are in part carniverous, but they are not the only carniverous plants in the state. Indeed, several other genera also include carniverous plants, such as Dionaea (Venus flytrap), Drosera (sundews), Pinguicula (butterworts), and Utricularia (bladderworts). Carnivory in these plants is thought to be an adaptation to the nutrient limited environment in which they grow. Though various strategies have evolved that aid in insect capture, pitchers are represented in North Carolina only in Sarracenia. In North Carolina, the genus is represented by six native and one introduced species (i.e., S. leucophylla). Two of our species are currently federally listed: S. jonesii (E) and S. oreophila (E). Sarracenia minor is currently listed as state endangered.
To identify a pitcher plant, you might try scrolling through the images on the "list" page or click on our "key" link above. Happy botanizing!
Status codesOn the species pages of some of our rarer pitcher plants, you will see some codes, such as S1, G1, etc. These are status codes commonly used by Natural Heritage Programs to indicate how rare a species is. For example, G1 means a species is very rare throughout its entire range (not just in North Carolina) and is considered globally critically imperiled. S1 means means a species is very rare in North Carolina (although it may be more common elsewhere) and is considered critically imperiled in our state. For some rare species, you will also see the single letters, such as E or T. These codes follow the US Fish & Wildlife Service (the agency charged with oversight of federally listed species in the US). E is used to indicate "endangered" and T is used to indicate "threatened".
CopyrightRe-use of any image in this work, for any purpose what-so-ever, is prohibited without the express written permission of the copyright owner. Unless otherwise noted, the photographs in this work were taken by Dr. A. Krings (North Carolina State University).
Suggested citationPlease cite this work as: Samuels, M. and A. Krings. 2012–present. Pitcher perfect! Identifying pitcher plants in North Carolina. Version 1.0. North Carolina State University, Raleigh.