05/29/2026
When most of us think of carnivorous plants, we likely think of tropical species like nepenthes, Mexican pings, or more southern temperate species like those growing in the southern US. But Pennsylvania has some carnivores we can call our own! Eight species, in fact! Our most charismatic species is the purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. It is also our only pitcher plant. We also have three sundews, Drosera rotundifolia, D. intermedia, and D. filiformis. Drosera filiformis, or the threadleaf sundew, is just waking up now and should be available for purchase soon! Darwin himself did a lot.of experiments with Drosera rotundifolia.
We also have four species of bladderworts- not to be confused with butterworts! Bladderworts are in the genus Utricularia and use bladder traps to catch tiny, sometimes microscopic prey. While there are terrestrial species, PA only has aquatic species. You can find U. macrorhiza, U
purpurea, U. radiata and U. inflata in our lakes and ponds.
Did you know PA has carnivorous plants? Have you ever seen them?
