Pale Pitcher Plant Sarracenia alata

The Yellow Trumpets plant is an herbaceous perennial and carnivorous plant in the pitcher plant family native to marshes and bogs, pinelands and wet forest floors in the southeastern United States, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.  In pine forests, it can be found in areas that are not dense with pine, but with meadow-like openings.  Typically, these openings will be waterlogged due to dense soils that lead to high acid in the soil and low nitrogen.  The Yellow Trumpets plants look to insects for nutrients. The flowers of this plant hang at the tip of its leafless stems. The flowers are large in comparison to the leaves.  Each stalk has one flower.  Insects are attracted to the pitcher shaped leaves by droplets of nectar on the leaf along with reddish veins on the open portion of the leaf. The pitcher shaped leaves contain a pool of water.  As the insect makes its way to the water, it will encounter downward-pointing hairs that prevent the insect from exiting. The water pool contains insect-digesting enzymes that assist the plant in digesting the insect.

It has been estimated that 97.5% of pitcher plant habitats have been destroyed in the southeastern United States. They have been threatened in the wild by ongoing development; however, cultivated varieties are available. Some pitcher plants are on the endangered species list while others are on the threatened list.  These plants are threatened by habitat loss, development, and over-collection. Never harvest these plants from the wild. They are best purchased from a reputable carnivorous plant nursery. The genus's name, Sarracenia, honors Dr. Michael Sarrazan of Quebec. In the 1700s, he sent the first pitcher plant to Europe.

Yellow Trumpets plants prefer full sun during the growing season. They require moist to wet, acidic soils of sand and peat, but mostly sand. This plant does not like fertilizers and is sensitive to dissolved salts in chlorinated water. Rainwater or distilled water may be used in place of tap water for container plants. The plants should not be manually fed or given food scraps. The plant cannot digest fats, and fertilizers can burn the plant. The Yellow Trumpets plant goes dormant in the fall and dormancy continues until spring. The leaves will turn brown, but it is best to wait and remove the foliage in the spring just before the flowers emerge. Growing them outdoors can be difficult because moist conditions must be maintained at all times. Indoors they require sun for the growing season and then winter dormancy. Whether grown in a bog garden or in containers the plant requirements must be maintained to be successful.

Insects, Diseases and Other Plant Problems:  

The Yellow Trumpets plant will do poorly if its specific growing conditions are not met. The biggest mistake is keeping the plant too wet. They must be protected from freezing winds. Monitor for aphids, scale, mealybugs, moth larvae, leaf spots, and root rot.

 VIDEO created by Andy Pulte for “Landscape Plant Identification, Taxonomy and Morphology” a plant identification course offered by the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee.