Yellow Pitcher Plant Sarracenia flava

The Yellow Pitcher Plant is a stemless, herbaceous perennial and carnivorous plant in the pitcher plant family native to savannas, seepage bogs, and pocosins of Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas.  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 Pitcher Plant looks to insects for nutrients. Insects are attracted to the pitcher shaped leaves by droplets of nectar on 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. The genus's name, Sarracenia, honors Dr. Michael Sarrazan of Quebec. In the 1700s, he sent the first pitcher plant to Europe. The species name is Latin for yellow.

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.

Yellow Pitcher Plants prefer full sun during the growing season. They require consistently moist soil high in sphagnum moss or peat moss but low in nitrogen, coarse vermiculite, and sharp sand. They would do best grown in a constantly damp, but not watery, bog garden. 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 Pitcher 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. In cold climates, trim leaves back in winter as pitchers die, but only trim dead tissue. 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.

The plant can best be propagated by rhizome division. You can grow plants from seed, but they will not flower for the first 4 to 5 years. Plants can also be grown in plastic pots or containers outside on a sunny deck or patio area with container soils of 50% peat and 50% perlite or vermiculite. Place the container in a tray of water that keeps the soil constantly moist. Overwinter them by inserting them to the rim in soil in protected locations. These plants require cold temperatures in winter dormancy; thus they do not grow well as houseplants.

It is a host plant for the larvae of the Epaulleted pitcher plant (Exyra fax) moth.

Insects, Diseases and Other Plant Problems: The Yellow Pitcher Plant will do poorly if its specific growing conditions are not met. The usual mistakes include allowing the plant to dry out, keeping the plant too wet, and growing in too much shade that causes the leaves to lose color and the pitchers to droop. 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.