Sarracenia purpurea

FNA (2009, vol. 8) elevates Sarracenia purpurea var. burkii to full species as Sarracenia rosea and accepts two subspecies of S. purpurea: S. purpurea ssp. venosa and S. purpurea ssp. purpurea which includes S. purpurea ssp. gibbosa and S. purpurea var. montana. S. purpurea ssp. heterophylla (= S. purpurea f. heterophylla) is recognized as a mutant of ssp. purpurea that seems to have lost the ability to form red anthocyanin pigments. Weakley's Oct. 2020 draft of the Flora of the Southeastern United States also excludes S. rosea as a separate species, but accepts three varieties of S. purpurea: S. purpurea var. montana and S. purpurea var. venosa are recognized, making the remaining S. purpurea var. purpurea the name applied to what had previously been recognized as S. purpurea ssp. gibbosa (e.g., as in Kartesz 1999). S. purpurea var. venosa is equivalent to what FNA (2009) calls S. purpurea ssp. venosa and what Kartesz (1999) treated as S. purpurea ssp. purpurea var. purpurea.

Sarracenia purpurea is a perennial herb in a variety of wetland habitats and is widespread in eastern North America, occurring from Georgia north to Virginia and west to Minnesota in the United States north to Newfoundland and Labrador west to the Northwest Territories and British Columbia in Canada as well as Alaska. It is introduced in West Virginia, Washington, and California in the United States as well as Europe (British Islands and Switzerland) and eastern Asia (Japan). There are estimated to be over 2500 occurrences, which face threats from development, rights-of-way maintenance, logging, fire suppression, succession, hydrological alteration, poaching, hybridization, and invasive species. Little is known about trends, but with a large range extent and large number of occurrences, this species is considered secure.

Sarracenia purpurea is widespread in eastern North America and is the only species of Sarracenia that extends north of Virginia (Weakley and the Southeastern Flora Team 2025). It occurs in eastern and northern North America from Georgia north to West Virginia and west to Minnesota in the United States north to Newfoundland and Labrador west to the Northwest Territories and British Columbia in Canada as well as Alaska (FNA 2009, Weakley and the Southeastern Flora Team 2025). It is introduced in West Virginia, Washington, and California in the United States as well as Europe (British Islands and Switzerland) and eastern Asia (Japan) (FNA 2009, Weakley and the Southeastern Flora Team 2025). See individual entries for distribution details about the infraspecific taxa: note that S. purpurea ssp. purpurea is a broader concept than S. purpurea var. purpurea. The native range extent was estimated to be over 7.5 million square kilometers using herbarium specimens, photo-based observations, and NatureServe Network occurrence data documented between 1994 and 2025 (GBIF 2025, iNaturalist 2025, NatureServe 2025, RARECAT 2025, SEINet 2025).

By applying a 1 km separation distance to herbarium specimens, photo-based observations, and NatureServe Network occurrence data documented between 1994 and 2025, it is estimated that there are over 2500 occurrences rangewide (GBIF 2025, iNaturalist 2025, NatureServe 2025, RARECAT 2025, SEINet 2025).

Although threats are not widely documented, this species is threatened by development, rights-of-way maintenance, logging, fire suppression, succession, hydrological alteration, poaching, hybridization, invasive species, and other threats in some places, though there is insufficient data, including anecdotal accounts, to understand scope and severity of threats for this species (NatureServe 2025).