Location Description
Sarracneia
is a plant genus that is endemic to North America. Specifically, they are
mostly found in the United States and Canada. Most of the species and naturally
occurring hybrids are found in the Southeastern US. Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
and the Carolinas are key states that house the largest Sarracneia diversity. Certain species of Sarracenia such as Sarracneia
purpurea are found up into Canada. Because these plants have evolved here,
they have adapted to cold winters and are thus considered temperate plants that
go dormant in the winter (Rice, 2006 and Schnell, 2002).
Sarracneia
habitats and their adaptations explain much about the plant’s nature and
biology which is explained in detail the biology section. To put it simply, the
habitat of Sarracneia are always
nutrient poor areas that are always wet to some degree. That being said, the
most common habitats that Sarracneia
occupy are peaty sphagnum and sandy bogs that have constant circulating water.
Some species are also found in grass savannas and sandy areas, near peat bogs.
These habitats are usually near large bodies of water, so the water table is 
relatively
high and water is continuously circulating. In addition, the sphagnum moss
found in these area breaks down into acidic peat moss that makes the soil
highly acidic (low pH). This prevents bacteria and other decomposers to live
and thrive in the soil. As a result, dead organic material is usually not
readily broken down into simple compounds that can by used by plants. The small
amounts of helpful nutritive compounds that are present are simply washed away
from the soil via water movement. Thus, the soil is highly acidic and 
very nutrient-poor. In the end, the
evolutionary progenitors of Sarracneia
had to adapt to these harsh habitat conditions (Rice, 2006 and Siragusa et al., 2007).