Story behind the art of Beverly Simone

Curious Allies: Mutualism in Fungi, Parasites, and Carnivores

The Fifth New York Botanical Garden Triennial

Northern Pitcher Plant

Sarracenia purpurea

While walking near a wetland in Acadia National Park, Maine, a patch of red caught my eye. Northern pitcher plants were in bloom. I'd never seen a wild pitcher plant, or one in bloom. "What a beautiful, unusual plant. I'm going to do a painting one day," I thought.

The interesting pitchers are hollow, bulging leaves that are red-tinged green with burgundy veining. The tall stems hold floppy-looking red to maroon flowers.

Carnivorous northern pitcher plants have many nicknames - purple pitcher plant, saddle flower, and Adam’s cup, to name a few. Though primarily a northern plant, they are widespread along the east coast from the Florida panhandle to Canada, westward into the Appalachians, up to Michigan and across Canada.

These plants are adapted to soil that lacks nutrients. They obtain necessary nutrients from the various insects – or even juvenile salamanders – that get trapped in the water filled pitchers and cannot escape because of the pitcher’s stiff downward facing hairs. The prey is dissolved by digestive enzymes.

An individual pitcher plant can live up to 50 years or more. Unfortunately, illegal plant collection has extirpated certain colonies.

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Read more about this artist's work: America's Flora