HOODED PITCHERPLANT 



Sarracenia minor Walter 



Peninsular Florida emerged from the sea only toward the close of the Tertiary age, and 

 as by that time most of the Sarracenias had apparently lost their ability to colonize new- 

 territory, they are not to be looked for in that region. The one exception to this rule is the 

 hooded pitcherplant, which extends far southward over the State, being reported even in 

 Palm Beach County, at latitude 2.6° N. In other directions its range is more restricted, how- 

 ever; it is the only species which has, so far as known, failed to reach the State of Alabama. 

 It is frequent in southern Georgia, but gradually diminishes in abundance northeastward 

 and barely enters North Carolina. 



Such a distribution indicates that the species originated on that part of the Cretaceous 

 peneplain which has since become the Georgia Piedmont. Although unable to survive the 

 geologic changes there, its seeds found their way down the Altamaha River system, and 

 colonized the Coastal Plain. It thrives best in moist meadows or open pinelands, underlain 

 by loamy but intensely acid soil, and as such habitats are common, it has attained a wide range. 



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