Sarraceniaceae is a family of pitcher plant

Pitcher plant

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over...

s (along with Nepenthaceae), belonging to order Ericales

Ericales

The Ericales are a large and diverse order of dicotyledons, including for example tea, persimmon, blueberry, Brazil nut, and azalea. The order includes trees and bushes, lianas and herbaceous plants. Together with ordinary autophytic plants, the Ericales include chlorophyll-deficient...

 (previously Nepenthales

Nepenthales

Nepenthales is a botanical name for an order of flowering plants. The name was used by the Cronquist system for an order in subclass Dilleniidae, which in the 1981 version of this system included:* order Nepenthales*: family Droseraceae...

).

The family comprises three extant genera: Sarracenia

Sarracenia

Sarracenia is a genus comprising 8 to 11 species of North American pitcher plants. The genus belongs to the family Sarraceniaceae, which also contain the closely allied genera Darlingtonia and Heliamphora....

(North American pitcher plants), Darlingtonia

Darlingtonia californica

Darlingtonia californica , also called the California Pitcher plant, Cobra Lily, or Cobra Plant, is a carnivorous plant, the sole member of the genus Darlingtonia in the family Sarraceniaceae. It is native to Northern California and Oregon, growing in bogs and seeps with cold running water...

(the cobra lily or California pitcher plant), and Heliamphora

Heliamphora

The genus Heliamphora contains 23 species of pitcher plants endemic to South America. The species are collectively known as sun pitchers, based on the mistaken notion that the heli of Heliamphora is from the Greek helios, meaning "sun"...

(sun pitchers). The extinct Archaeamphora longicervia

Archaeamphora longicervia

Archaeamphora longicervia is an extinct species of pitcher plant bearing close affinities to extant members of the family Sarraceniaceae. Fossil material assigned to this taxon originates from the Yixian Formation of northeastern China, dated to the Early Cretaceous .Archaeamphora longicervia is...

may also belong to this family. The first two are native to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 while Heliamphora is native to South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. All three are carnivorous plants that lure insects with nectar and use their elongated tube shaped leaves filled with water and digestive enzymes (or bacteria in the case of Darlingtonia

Darlingtonia californica

Darlingtonia californica , also called the California Pitcher plant, Cobra Lily, or Cobra Plant, is a carnivorous plant, the sole member of the genus Darlingtonia in the family Sarraceniaceae. It is native to Northern California and Oregon, growing in bogs and seeps with cold running water...

) to catch and consume them. Many species also use downward pointing hairs and waxy secretions to make it difficult for insects to escape.

These plants grow in nutrient-poor, often acidic soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

 and use the insects as a nutritional supplement. The pitchers originate from a rhizome

Rhizome

In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...

 and die back during the winter dormancy. Plants of the genus Sarracenia occur mostly in Sphagnum

Sphagnum

Sphagnum is a genus of between 151 and 350 species of mosses commonly called peat moss, due to its prevalence in peat bogs and mires. A distinction is made between sphagnum moss, the live moss growing on top of a peat bog on one hand, and sphagnum peat moss or sphagnum peat on the other, the...

bogs.

Most Sarraceniaceae have tall, narrow pitchers that are vertical or nearly so. Sarracenia purpurea

Sarracenia purpurea

Sarracenia purpurea, commonly known as the purple pitcher plant, northern pitcher plant, or side-saddle flower, is a carnivorous plant in the family Sarraceniaceae...

, however, has short, squat, bulbous pitchers close to the ground, and Sarracenia psittacina

Sarracenia psittacina

Sarracenia psittacina, also known as the parrot pitcher plant, is a carnivorous plant in the genus Sarracenia. Like all the Sarracenia, it is native to North America, in the Southeastern United States....

has pitchers that grow horizontally.

The purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) is the official flower of Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

.