Like the predatory sundew, sarracenia is an insectivorous plant, but it earns its livelihood in a completely different way. The Sarracenia flower has a number of characteristic botanical features, which you can familiarize yourself with in this article. You will also learn about the history of the discovery of this most interesting plant and the intricacies of caring for it at home.
The Sarracenia plant belongs to the Sarracenia family. His homeland is North America.
Pitcher-shaped leaves have a specialized group of heat-loving plants from the Sarraceniaceae family. It includes three genera: Sarracenia, Darlingtonia and Heliamphora. According to the type of trapping apparatus, another independent genus, cephalotus, closely adjoins them.
Facts from the history of the Sarracenia flower
The most famous of the above-mentioned predatory family was the genus Sarracenia (lat. – Sarracenia). The famous French botanist and traveler Joseph Pitton de Tournefort gave it its name. It was he who in 1700 described the then unknown plants sent from the Canadian province of Quebec by his colleague M. Sarrazin. His name was used in the botanical passport of the new object.
In its current state, the genus includes ten species, as well as several subspecies, natural hybrids and about a hundred varieties created by breeders. The distribution area is the east coast of the United States, where coastal lowlands with sphagnum swamps and wetland forests stretch, as well as part of the Canadian wetland area.
The conditions for carnivorous green residents are favorable here: the climate is mild, humid, and there are enough carriers of meat food in the area. However, if necessary, they can adapt to less comfortable conditions. This is evidenced by such an interesting fact from the history of the plant: in 1906, several specimens of Sarracenia were seized by the botanist J. Lefroy from his native monastery and brought to Ireland. The aliens took root in the local swamps. Concerned about the future of his pets, the scientist did not advertise this fact in order to avoid the invasion of the curious.
He remained silent until the end of his days, and only when he was dying did he let one of his colleagues, J. Lambi, making him promise to keep his secret. When the swamp began to suddenly drain, he secretly moved the new settlers to a new place – away from the land reclamation equipment crushing everything under it. The secret was revealed only after 37 years due to chance. You can, of course, reproach scientists for being too careful, but in the “age of endangered plants” it is sometimes not at all superfluous.
Now this species – purple sarracenia (Sarracenia purpurea) – with a reddish color of small (up to 15 cm long) jugs, as if half-wrapped from the side of the pharynx with an openwork lid, finally took root in Europe. True, he did not cross the borders of Ireland – after all, he needs more warmth and sun, which he found in his native Florida and in neighboring states.
Next, you can get acquainted with the botanical description of sarracenia and learn about caring for this flower at home.
Description of the carnivorous plant Sarracenia
The trapping organs of Sarracenia can be (and are) called jugs, urns, pipes, or goblets. But most of all, they look like elongated funnels with outgrowths at the inlet in the form of a palm, a cuff leaf or a wavy flower petal in an upright position or somewhat bent to the neck. Such a lid partially covers the entrance to the trap, which is not superfluous at all when they are vertically located in space; You never know what undesirable can fall down there from above.
As shown in the photo, in some sarracenia, the leaf heads are rounded and bent in such a way that they resemble the beak of a bird of prey or the raised head of a snake:
In Canada, the people gave these bizarre objects their colorful names: the ancestral cup, the hunting horn, the trumpet leaf, the devil’s boot, the ladies’ saddle, and even the soldier’s mug. What connects the plant with the soldiers, one can only guess.
The surface of the sarracenial vessel, including the lid, in most species is pierced with bright red veins, forming a beautiful mesh, like on a fashionable women’s stocking. In addition, it is still dotted with white, pink and other spots. The main color of the jars is also the most diverse, although red and yellow-green shades predominate in it. Such a defiant outfit is attractive to many insects.
In contrast to the Nepenthes, the trapping jugs of Sarracenia are formed not by a part of the leaf, but by its entire surface. These tubular leaves, like sundews, are arranged in relation to the ground in the form of a rosette. At the right time (in spring), a long peduncle rises above them. At the end of it grows a single large (up to 10 cm in diameter) flower with reddish, yellow or purple petals. It’s like a sign of decency for a carnivorous plant: “That’s what I am! Look! Everything is like everyone else!”
But looks are deceiving. The true “character” of such a handsome man is known by insects upon closer acquaintance. Alas, a very bitter experience.
The dimensions of the trapping tubes of insectivorous sarracenia are enormous in comparison with the traps of our predators. The maximum length of some can reach one meter, and half a meter and above are quite common. The entrance to such a container ranges from 5–8 cm. More than half of it can be filled with a watery liquid. At one time it was believed (including Linnaeus) that moisture-rich urns serve as natural drinking bowls for birds. But very soon, scientists figured out that these were simply liquid traps for insects, both flying and crawling on the ground.
The inner surface of the trap is differentiated into three zones. Upper – with a smooth waxy cuticle and tiled structure of the walls. Medium – has long and sharp, deep-directed bristles, between which nectaries are located. By the way, they also abound in the rim of the urn, the lid and the outer surface. The last (lower) zone, like the upper one, is distinguished by its impeccable smoothness. No fly is able to stay on it, despite its rare ability to walk upside down on any ceiling.
The design of the trap, therefore, easily allows the movement of insects into the vessel from the edge of the slippery entrance rim, but prevents their return. And their final destiny is the same as in the jars of Nepenthes.
The massacre with the caught prey is facilitated by the fact that the liquid in the tubes has a reduced surface tension, much less than that of ordinary water. Naturally, the prisoners in it drown much faster.
Cooking in sarracenia occurs in the usual way for most green predators – with the participation of digestive enzymes. This has been denied before. But one of the researchers once drew attention to such a fact. Once, a 4-centimeter centipede fell into the hunting bag of a purple sarracenia (Sarracenia purpurea) on a dark tropical night. One half of it, obeying gravity, plunged into a deadly font, and the second, in spite of everything, continued to stay above the surface and vigorously fight for life.
A few hours later, the underwater part of the animal became motionless and white, with signs of obvious tissue decomposition. In ordinary water, even inhabited by bacteria, this was not observed. “So,” the scientist concluded, “the motley jar of the plant contains not ordinary water, but a poisonous solution. And so it is made by the secretions of plant cells. This thought turned out to be correct.
The “stomach” of sarracenia does not, as a rule, suffer from hunger. Some of them have traps half full of dead insects. Especially often ants fall into a liquid trap. They are known to be very sweet. In one of the Sarracenia, a wide honey belt extends from the inner surface of the vessel to the outer walls. Further, as a narrowing fragrant strip, it reaches almost to the very ground, where the ubiquitous ants busily scurry about.
They don’t need a better invitation. These small hard workers have a highly developed sense of smell and touch. Therefore, the ant people easily find a fragrant path and, not suspecting a dirty trick, rushes along it inside – towards their death. In the depths of the vessel, the honey belt suddenly breaks off, turning into a completely smooth surface. Ants roll down it, replenishing the menu of a predator that is not too fastidious in tastes.
But still, not all the small fry spinning in the vicinity are within his power. One blowfly quietly lays its larvae in a foul-smelling mixture of sarracenia traps. Then skillfully flies out of the trap through a forest of pointed spears. Its larvae feed on the remains of insect corpses until maturation. And they go free even easier than the parent, gnawing out holes in the wall of their home.
The stubborn fly, of course, is not limited to a one-time visit to a vessel that is dangerous for others. She walks back and forth with impunity when she pleases, which cannot be explained by simple luck. How does she do it?
The whole thing, it turns out, is in the special structure of her legs. They have unusually long claws at the ends and, in addition, are equipped with sole-like hooks on the last joint. This allows the legs, firstly, to freely penetrate between the sharp hairs and, secondly, to enter into reliable adhesion with the deeper layers of the insidious wall. Devices of this kind are similar to mountaineering and are used when climbing mountains. A fly with them risks practically nothing during seemingly dangerous campaigns.
In addition to the mentioned fly with the Latin name Sarcophaga Sarraceniae, aphids feed on the juices of the walls of the vessel. Some butterflies make shelters for caterpillars in it. And cunning spiders, hanging nets on their necks, catch their share of the prey. But such cohabitation is not a big problem for a carnivorous green creature. He has more serious pests in nature.
The sarracenia tubes stuffed with free food are often robbed by birds, sometimes tearing even the walls with their sharp beaks and thus dooming plants that are innocent before birds to a half-starved existence. With non-Penthes, such a rough treatment is almost impossible. The design of the neck, equipped with sharp spikes, does not allow mass theft. For bold attempts to him, birds usually pay with their own lives.
Sarracenia purpurea and other species
Most popular:
Sarracenia Drummond (S. drummondii).
S. yellow (S. flava).
S. purple (S. purpurea).
Above the lower leaves of these insectivorous rhizomatous plants rise large leaves, similar to funnels, covered inside with hairs that prevent the release of insects. Insects are especially attracted by the bright color of the jugs, besides, the nectar glands secrete sweet juice. Flowers solitary, sometimes collected in racemes, consist of 3-6 colored sepals.
This plant produces nectar that insects are unable to resist. On the inner surface of the tubular traps, which are modified leaves, there are villi soaked in nectar. The insect sits down and collects this nectar.
In the lower part of the plant there is a space with digestive juices in which the insect swims at different stages of the digestion process. This should send warning signals to the insect above. But it is so busy with its feast that it does not pay any attention to them. And why? After all, it has wings to fly when it wants to.
Unbeknownst to itself, the insect moves in only one direction – down. When it finally saturates, it tries to take off. However, the nectar is very sticky: like fingers become sticky. The more it tries to break free, the worse it becomes. The walls of the plant imperceptibly become smooth, the villi quickly disappear.
Sarracenia purpurea has taken root in Europe and now grows in the swamps of Ireland. Trapping leaves-jugs of sarracenia are called by some authors “ascidians”. They are long, elongated, resembling elongated narrow goblets, the entrance to which is either partially covered by a flattened lid, or raised vertically in the form of a “sail”. The diameter of the jars is from 5 to 8 cm, and the maximum length is up to 1 m. The color is monophonic or variegated, with contrasting veins that create an effective pattern resembling the branching of blood vessels. The intensity of coloring under the influence of direct sun increases. Ascidia of all Sarracenia are supplied with nectar-bearing glands and glandular hairs. The process of hunting is not accompanied by the movements of the plant – insects that have fallen into the cavity of the jug simply drown in the deadly liquid. Some species of the family contain the alkaloid sarracenin, which is used in medicine.
Two kinds:
Sarracenia Jones (Sarracenia jonesii Wherry).
Sarracenia oreophila (Sarracenia oreophila).
And one subspecies of the Alabama sarracenia (Sarracenia rubra) is classified as a rare plant in need of protection.
Their number in nature is sharply reduced under the influence of drainage works, the use of agricultural poisons on neighboring lands, tourism, collecting, commercial trade, etc. Natural competition in plant communities can also be added to this. Therefore, in the United States and Canada, measures are being stepped up to protect these interesting plants, which in a number of places (for example, in South Carolina) can already be counted on the fingers.
Sarracenia plant care at home
This light-loving plant feels good on the southern window. When caring for sarracenia at home at noon, it should be slightly shaded. Humidity is high. It is necessary to spray Sarracenia with soft water at room temperature several times a day. In winter, the plant is kept at a temperature not lower than 5 ° C. For planting, a light substrate is used: sphagnum, peat and sand (2: 0.5: 0.5).
If you notice that the jars of home-grown Sarracenia have become brittle and dry out, you need to increase the humidity. It is even better to place the plant in a room greenhouse.
Watering with soft water, through the pan. Sarracenia does not like overdrying of the soil. Plants are rarely fed with flower fertilizers.
Propagation is by division of the rhizome and seeds.
The video “Care for Sarracenia” shows how to grow this plant: