NORTHERN PITCHERPLANT 



Sarracenia purpurea gibbosa (Rafinesque) Wherry 



Northern pitcherplant ranges from Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey northward over 

 a vast territory in this country and Canada. The geographic relations, together with the 

 presence of intermediates between the northern and southern subspecies in southern New 

 Jersey, indicate that the northern one originated in that region. Evidently the southern an- 

 cestor, after arriving in New Jersey, became variable, and gave rise to descendants differing 

 more or less in morphological and physiological characters. Most of these, lacking ability to 

 extend their ranges, have remained where they originated. One, however, became highly 

 aggressive, and as it also differs in pitcher shape, it is classed as a distinct subspecies. 



During the ice advances of the glacial epoch this pitcherplant was of course unable to 

 migrate northward, and merely spread a short distance into Maryland and southern Pennsyl- 

 vania, but after the retreat of the last ice sheet it soon occupied the newly developed bogs, 

 and even managed to reach sub-Arctic Canada. 



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