This is the plant that started it all. At a time when I had only the vaguest of grasps on what a longleaf pine savanna ecosystem was like or of all the plants and animals that have evolved over their histories to thrive in these places, I was told that I might enjoy going out to a place called Buttercup Flats in DeSoto National Forest because I’d see a bunch of pitcher plants there. Ironically, the people who told me this likely weren’t aware that Buttercup Flats is an absolute gem in its size and intact nature as a wet longleaf pine savanna in South Mississippi. Compared to their historic range, very few preserves exist to show the natural history of these unique habitats in the Southeast and people come from all across the US and the world to see pristine habitat like this.

I remember my first time I saw Buttercup Flats. It was April. The vast savanna was in full bloom with waves of pale yellow saturating my vision. Here and there fresh green pitchers were coming up out of the mud, a timing adaptation that has arisen over the the evolutionary course of this plant to hopefully allow insects to pollinate the flowers before the pitchers are open and tempting insects to their death. Time has taught them a dance that the savanna follows every year as wildflowers bloom and fade, birds arrive and raise their young, and grasses cast their seed to the Southern winds in hopes of creating a new generation of plants that will give the longleaf pine savannas their particular flair.

Buttercup Flats, photo courtesy of Christopher King

Sarracenia alata occurs from the western edge of South Alabama to East Texas. It grows abundantly in South Mississippi in moist pine woods and continues over to the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana in the wet savannas there. It’s there that their range becomes a bit perplexing to me and I’ll admit that I don’t know the answer to why their range is like it is. After slipping into Southeast Louisiana in the wet pine woods, Sarracenia disappears for several parishes on a westward direction until the Mississippi River and its floodplain is long behind them and they arise again in relative abundance in West-Central Louisiana, especially in Kisatchie National Forest where you can find longleaf forests that are unique from the ones in Mississippi, but similar in plant communities. S. alata expands westward to East Texas and some have noted that the western populations in West Louisiana/East Texas are subtly different in shape from those in the eastern populations; perhaps evidence toward a separation long past that has allowed them enough time to diverge into separate lineages over the years.

S. alata from Southeast Louisiana

Sarracenia alata is the ‘typical’ pitcher plant from Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. While others exist in Southeast Louisiana and Mississippi, it remains the most abundant species as well as the one most visible due to its statuesque pitchers rising out of the savanna. The pitchers are modified leaves that create a digestive liquid at the bottom of their pitchers that awaits any insects that are lured in by the nectar produced on the underside of the lid and then fall to their demise. In a habitat soaked in sun and water throughout most of the year yet lacking many of the key nutrients other plants thrive on, these insects work as supplements and vitamins to allow these carnivores to thrive.

S. alata from Texas, photo courtesy of Brandy Midura

Pitcher plants often get a lot of attention because they’re usually large and showy; they are weird looking and colorful. And being a poster child is alright so long as we realize that they represent so much more than just themselves. When we lose habitat that they thrived in, we lose other carnivorous plants; we lose orchids and grasses and countless grassland species that are hanging on to survival. They need their own Lorax to speak up for the pitcher plants and butterworts. I hope that by reading these blog posts, you can gain a better appreciation and knowledge of the wonderful plants that call my region home and the jewels that could be lost to the void if we don’t protect them.



The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness John Muir