Yellow Pitcherplant
Sarracenia flava
Found in pine savannas; Coastal Plain seepage bogs; pocosins and bay forests. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- 1.5–3 feet
- Spread
- 1.5–3 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
Space about 2 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 25 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Semi-evergreen
- Fruiting season
- May to June
Recorded in 24 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Florida. Shared habitat, not food. 150 animals.
- American KestrelFalco sparverius
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- Black-bellied Whistling-DuckDendrocygna autumnalis
- Blue GrosbeakPasserina caerulea
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Dark-eyed JuncoJunco hyemalis
- Fish CrowCorvus ossifragus
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great Crested FlycatcherMyiarchus crinitus
- Hairy WoodpeckerPicoides villosus
- King RailRallus elegans
- LimpkinAramus guarauna
- Mourning DoveZenaida macroura
- Northern BobwhiteColinus virginianus
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Painted BuntingPasserina ciris
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinica
- Red-headed WoodpeckerMelanerpes erythrocephalus
- Rusty BlackbirdEuphagus carolinus
- Sandhill CraneGrus canadensis
- Savannah SparrowPasserculus sandwichensis
Who uses this plant?
6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Sarracenia
- Endothenia hebesanaVerbena Bud Moth
- Exyra ridingsiiRiding's Pitcherplant Looper Moth
- Exyra semicroceaPale Shoulder Pitcherplant Looper Moth
- Morrisonia confusaConfused Woodgrain
- Papaipema appassionataPitcher-Plant Borer Moth
- Basicladus tracyi
4BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Sarracenia
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Sarraceniaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 6a–9b
- Soil pH
- Acidic
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Fruit begins
- May
- Fruit ends
- June
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Flower color · “Yellow” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Fruit begins · “May” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “June” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Hardiness · “Zones 6a–9b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “1.5–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Leaves · “Semi-evergreen” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally wet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “1.5–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Florida rank | S4? |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5? |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: South Central (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

























