Okefenokee Hooded Pitcher Plants

Multiple trips to the Okefenokee and I hadn’t seen a Pitcher Plant since 1997. So on this May 2020 trip I was going to find and photograph that signature swamp Sarracenia! From what I had read, some of the largest Hooded Pitchers – up to three or four feet – grow in the Okefenokee Swamp. Pitcher Plants are native to North America and found along the coastal plain from North Carolina down into Florida.

After three days of paddling and exploring the trails around the Stephen C Foster campground, I finally broke down and had to ask park staff*. “On the way out of the campground, about a quarter mile on the left, just under the 25 MPH sign I flagged off a small patch so the mowers wouldn’t hit them.” And sure enough, there they were! Perhaps I was imagining a more secluded and swamp-like scene to find these carnivorous vegetables, but a roadside ditch will do!