| Author | Wherry | |
| Distribution | Occurs only in a small area of the southern Mountains, being certainly native in Henderson and Buncombe ("mountain bogs near Biltmore") counties. Records from Transylvania and Macon counties are of planted populations. This is a fairly recent split from Sarracenia rubra, and a few references still consider it as only a variety of that species, as S. rubra var. jonesii. Most, as does Weakley (2018), consider it as a valid species.
This species has a very limited range, being found only in the southern Mountains of NC and adjacent northwestern SC.
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| Abundance | Rare, and mostly limited to a fairly small region within these two counties (Henderson and Buncombe), generally in the southern portions not too far north of SC. This is both a State and a Federal Endangered species. | |
| Habitat | This species occurs mostly in bogs in NC, but it can occur in cataract seeps (seepages around waterfall margins), mostly in SC. |
| Phenology | It blooms in May, and fruits in July. | |
| Identification | This is a larger version of Sarracenia rubra, which is found in the Coastal Plain. The several leaves are each in the form of a narrow pitcher or trumpet, as in S. rubra and S. flava, with an average height of about 2 feet tall. The top of the leaf is a horizontal rounded hood, connected to the pitcher by a broad neck. The leaves are striped in purple or maroon, generally along "veins". The flowering stalk, which grows separately, carries the flower about 1.5-2 feet high, usually slightly shorter than the top of the pitchers. The flower is roughly cube-shaped, strongly maroon-purple, and about 1-1.5 inches across. The 5 petals droop downward. Needless to say, the species can be easily seen at a distance in the sunny wetlands of these counties, even if not in bloom. S. rubra, growing much farther to the east, has pitchers/trumpets mostly just 1-1.5 feet tall at best, and a flower that is smaller, around 1-inch across. The other montane pitcherplant in NC -- S. oreophila -- has a mostly green pitcher not striped in maroon-purple; its flowers are also bright yellow and much larger. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | This taxon has always been on shaky ground for being a good species. NatureServe gives it a G2 rank, but it formerly has it with a Q for Questionable Taxonomy, and even earlier as a variety of S. rubra. See the Distribution section for more details.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Generally none. | |
| State Rank | S1 | |
| Global Rank | G2 | |
| State Status | E | |
| US Status | LE | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
