Darlingtonia californica

California pitcher plant is endemic to the northern Sierra Nevada and
Coast Ranges of southwestern Oregon and northern California, including
the Klamath, Siskiyou, Salmon, and Trinity Mountains. In the Sierra
Nevada, it occurs as far south as Nevada County [14,27]. Most Oregon
populations are found south of Florence in Lane County, but natural
populations are recorded near Hidden Lake in Lincoln County and Sand
Lake in Tillamook County [35]. A transplanted population is reported
near Seattle, Washington [14].

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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

1 Northern Pacific Border
4 Sierra Mountains

CA OR

Darlingtonia californica Torr.:
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: Western Oregon and northern California. Its southern extent is from California in Nevada Co. to Tillamook Co. Oregon at its northern reaches; also in Oregon in Coos, Curry, Douglas, Josephine, Lane and Lincoln Counties. Disjunct in the Sierra Nevada of California.

More info for the terms: bog, cover, forb, rhizome

California pitcher plant is a native perennial forb. It is a
carnivorous plant that traps insects in its unique leaves. With
plentiful light and water in its open bog habitat, the production of
nectar is relatively "cheap". Insects attracted by the nectar are used
as a nutrient source [15]. Adult California pitcher plants have slowly
spreading rhizomes which produce a single leaf (pitcher) and roots at
each node [11,26]. The diameter of the rhizome is from 0.6 to 0.8 inch
(15-20 mm), although it narrows near the apical tip [11]. Internodes
are short and the pitchers appear to arise in a terminal rosette [33].
Each leaf has a sheathing base that encloses the apical bud and the base
of the next leaf [11]. Individuals have been aged by counting old leaf
bases attached to the rhizome [18]. Pitcher size may vary from over 39
inches (1 m) to as small as 0.4 inches (1 cm), although most pitchers
are between 8 and 24 inches (2-6 dm) tall [14,27,28].

Pitcher Morphology: Germinating seeds of California pitcher plant have
3 lanceolate and nontubular cotyledons which are followed by 5 to 10
juvenile leaves from a basal rosette [11,12]. Juvenile leaves are
tubular and somewhat twisted so that the opening may either be erect or
horizontal. Above the opening, each of these leaves tapers into a
flattened beak and the outside surface has many nectar glands [12,23].
The distinctive adult leaves have an elongated tubular portion with a
keeled area the length of the tube. The tube is twisted from 90 to 180
degrees. Functionally, the twisting turns the mouth of the tube to one
side making it more accessible to insects and preventing the next leaf
from growing into the mouth and plugging it [11]. At the top of the
tube, a hood arches over the mouth. The front edge of the hood has a
curious appendage shaped like a fishtail hanging in front of the mouth.
The outer surface of the fishtail appendage has many nectaries, with
nectar concentrated along the rim of the fishtail and opening of the
pitcher [32,33]. At maturity, groups of hood cells lose chlorophyll and
become translucent windows or fenestrations. The inner walls of the
hood have short, stiff, downward or backward pointing hairs. Below the
nectar roll at the mouth's edge, the inner walls are smooth and waxy
with long, thin hairs pointing downward near the base [32,33]. Pitchers
contain water secreted by the leaf, while rainwater is excluded by the
hood [23,18,28,33]. This fluid increases in volume as insects or other
nitrogen containing materials are added to it [23,18,33].

Pitcher Ecology: Insects are attracted to pitchers by the color and
nectar glands which cover the outside of the hood but which are more
numerous on the fishtail and wing [26]. There is a heavy exudation of
nectar on the nectar roll inside the mouth of the pitcher. Light from
the hood fenestrations assists in attracting insects inside the hood
[25]. The fenestrations also may appear to be exits and confuse some
insects [26]. Insects rarely escape once they have fallen into the
fluid at the pitcher base [26]. However, many if not most insect
visitors ingest nectar and leave without becoming trapped [15]. This
system may be mutually beneficial to both the California pitcher plants,
which gain a nutrient source, and the insect visitors, which gain a
nectar source [15]. The bodies of insects which drown in the pitchers
decompose by bacterial action, as California pitcher plant secretes no
enzymes for that purpose [23,33]. Twenty or more arthropod species may
be found living in pitchers of California pitcher plants, many of which
are obligate inhabitants [8,29]. Larvae of several species feed on dead
insects trapped by the pitchers, thus increasing the rate of
decomposition [28]. Spiders construct webs in the domes [8]. Some
insects feed on pitcher tissue or lay eggs in the pitchers so that their
larvae can feed on them [8].

More info for the term: bog

Along the Oregon and northern California coast, California pitcher plant
is found in sphagnum bogs, seeps, and along trickling streams [14,30].
In the Siskiyou Mountains it is found only on sites with running water
[1]. In California's Klamath Ranges and the northern Sierra Nevada,
California pitcher plant grows where there are slowly draining bogs
formed by springs or seepage slopes and open marshy meadows [34]. It is
very rarely found in bogs with standing water. Normally it is
restricted to sites where its rhizomes and roots can be kept cool by
cold, moving water [26,32,33].

In northwestern California, bogs with California pitcher plant as the
dominant vascular species intermingle with bog forests where
Port-Orford-cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), western white pine (Pinus
monticola), and shore pine (Pinus contorta) dominate [17]. Other plants
found with California pitcher plant include sundew (Drosera
rotundifolia), northern grass-of-parnassus (Parnassia palustris), common
butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), California coneflower (Rudbeckia
californica), smallhead burnet (Sanguisorba microcephala), lance-leaved
violet (Viola lanceolata occidentalis), white rushlily (Hastingsia
alba), California bog-asphodel (Narthecium californicum), western
tofieldia (Tofieldia glutinosa occidentalis), California ladyslipper
(Cypripedium californicum), canyon bogorchid (Habenaria sparsiflora),
hairy bulrush (Scirpus criniger), lilies (Lilium spp), rushes (Juncus
spp.), and beaked-rushes (Rhynchospora spp.) [34]. In lower elevation
bogs near the ocean, some associated species include Yosemite aster
(Aster occidentalis var. yosemitanus), scarlet paintbrush (Castilleja
miniata ssp. elata), Mendocino gentian (Gentiana setigera), California
coneflower, Pacific reedgrass (Calamagrostis nutkaensis), smallhead
burnet, largehorned butterwort (Pinguicula macroceras), and tufted
hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa ssp. beringensis) [17].

Soils: California pitcher plant commonly grows on sphagnum or poor peat
soils and gravel where the parent material is serpentine. It is often
considered an indicator of serpentine [14,26,32,38,39]. It is also
found on olivine grabbro in the central Siskiyou Mountains [39].

California pitcher plant occurs from sea level to 8,500 feet (2,592 m)
in elevation [27,33].

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the term: shrub

K005 Mixed conifer forest
K006 Redwood forest
K007 Red fir forest
K010 Ponderosa shrub forest

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES23 Fir - spruce
FRES27 Redwood

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

207 Red fir
231 Port Orford-cedar
232 Redwood

Published classifications listing California pitcher plant as an
indicator species or a dominant part of the vegetation in community
types (cts) are presented below:

Area Classification Authority

CA general veg. cts Thorne 1976
CA general veg. cts Holland 1986

Comments: Wet areas of low fertility underlain by serpentine or perio- dotite, in redwd., douglas fir, yellow pine or red fir comm.

Systems

• Terrestrial

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 81 to >300

Comments: Probably over 100.

More info for the term: bog

In the Southeast, frequent, moderate fire is necessary for some pitcher
plants (Sarracenia spp.) to maintain dense populations. Such fires, as
often as every second year, reduce encroachment of competing plants and
increase bare, wet ground for seedling establishment [9,15,19]. In
Mississippi, pitcher plants in a burned bog were more abundant and had
larger leaves and rhizomes than those in an unburned bog [5]. Although
historical reports indicate dense populations of California pitcher
plant [15], its specific response to fire has not been documented. All
the older (from 146 to 350-400 years) Port-Orford-cedar in a bog forest
intermingled with California pitcher plant bogs exhibit fire scars [17].

More info for the terms: fire severity, rhizome, severity

Aboveground portions of California pitcher plant are probably killed by
fire. Survival of the rhizome depends on fire severity.

More info for the term: rhizome

Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)

More info for the term: rhizome

California pitcher plant grows on sites with running water which seem
unlikely to burn most years. However, it does grows in bright sunlight
and may well be a seral species like other pitcher plants. The shallow
rhizome is covered by imbricate, sheathing leaf bases [11] which may
give it some protection from fire. California pitcher plant sprouts
from the rhizome, and seeds may be transported from nearby unburned
sites by animals [11,32].

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More info for the terms: shrubs, succession

Obligate Initial Community Species

Bogs containing California pitcher plant can develop directly from wet
sand on deflation plains along the Oregon coast [41]. Carnivorous
plants are characteristic of an early stage of succession in bog
habitats. Their growth helps build soil which can then be occupied by
other perennials, shrubs, and eventually trees [39]. Pitcher plants in
the southeastern United States do not compete well with other plants in
the absence of fire or other disturbance [15]. California pitcher plant
is primarily found in the bright sunshine of open bogs [10,21].

More info for the terms: cover, rhizome

Vegetative reproduction of California pitcher plant by rhizomes is more
common than sexual reproduction [32]. Each leaf axil contains a single
bud which can develop into a lateral rhizome branch [11]. Although most
remain dormant, the buds that grow can cover a suitable location with
California pitcher plants [11,32].

Each pendant flower is borne on a stalk up to 39 inches (1 m) tall
[14,27]. The yellowish sepals are longer than the closed, reddish
corolla, which has openings to admit insect pollinators at indentations
near the ends of the petals [32,33]. The corolla shape, bell-shaped
ovary, and positions of both stigma and stamens greatly increase the
probability of cross-pollination [32]. Each five-chambered capsule
bears a hundred or more seeds which are 0.08 to 0.1 inch (2-3 mm) long,
hairy, and light reddish-brown [14,26,27]. The more rounded end of each
seed has many short projections which may aid in animal dispersal and
help the seed float [32,43]. Seeds mature within 10 weeks of
fertilization [33].

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More info for the term: geophyte

Geophyte

More info for the term: forb

Forb

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Flowers are initiated during late summer, overwinter as buds and bloom
in early spring before new leaves appear [43]. Bloom can be from April
to August depending on altitude [28,32]. The first pitchers produced
after bloom are the tallest of the year [28]. Annual growth of the
rhizome may include one or two full-sized pitchers, one that is half
size or smaller, and three to five very small pitchers [29]. The
smallest pitchers tend to be prostrate, with the fishtail appendage
touching the ground and forming a ramp for insects [23].

California pitcher plant is listed as threatened in the Family Lists of
Candidate Endangered and Threatened Plant Species in the Continental
United States (Smithsonian Institution 1975) [9]. It is also on List
Four, Plants of Limited Distribution--A Watch List, of the California
Native Plant Society [17].

Year Assessed

Assessor/s

Reviewer/s

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N3 - Vulnerable

Rounded Global Status Rank: G3 - Vulnerable

Reasons: Very narrow range, populations sporadic, yet, individual plants may be plentiful at a given locaton, highly threat- ened by collection and habitat destruction.

Global Short Term Trend: Decline of 10-30%

Comments: Some sites depleted or lost to habitat destruction. Collecting occurring at some sites.

Comments: Habitat destruction by humans e.g. mining, logging, road construction, development, ORV use, draining of wetlands. Collecting for horticultural trade (domestically and internationally).