(picture snipped from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarracenia_alabamensis)
The Canebrake Pitcher Plant is one of Alabama’s most illusive and endangered species.
The beautiful carniverous plant starts off as a small rhizome (root) and grows into a beautiful gathered bushel of tube shaped flowers and leaves. The “pitcher shaped part of the plant has a steep wall with fluid inside of it. The flowers seem really attractive and tasty to insects. The insect goes inside the plant to drink the nectar or to cure their curiousity. They can’t get back up the long tube of the plant, so they dissolve into the fluid inside the plant.
The Canebrake Pitcher Plant grows into places that are boggy. Other plants in the area are usually poison oak, Wax Myrtle, and other rich soil weeds. Counties more likely to have the Pitcher plants are Chilton County, Elmore County, and Autauga County. Alabama has a few more species of pitcher plants. They are also on the endangered species list. If you find one of know of a place where they are located, contact your local county extension office.
Resources For further reading:
http://www.outdooralabama.com/public-lands/stateLands/WeeksBay/Pitcher%20Plant%20Bog/
http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/Watchablearticles/pitcherplant.cfm
http://sciences.aum.edu/bi/BI4543/saru.html
http://www.forestry.state.al.us/PDFs/ResourceSheets/Plants/Alabama_Canebrake_Pitcher_Plant.pdf
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