Description:  
The leaves of Sarracenia rubra are shaped like tubular trumpets, are erect with a hood covering.  The mature height may reach 3 feet.  These leaves grow from a rhizome which grows at the surface of the soil.  Each rhizome will produce 3 to 20 trumpet shaped leaves annually then will grow winter leaves (phyllodes)  in the fall.  When grown in full sun, these leaves are thick and firm which makes them fairly resistant to wind and rain.  The hood generally keeps the rain water from entering the trumpet, so it will be less likely to fall over. 

Sarracenia rubra  is a passive pitfall plant, it doesn’t have to move to capture its insects.  The insects are attracted by nectar produced by glands around the outer edge of the hood and underneath the hood where it attaches to the mouth of the trumpet.  Nectar is also produced around the rim of the trumpet and along the wing formed where the two leaf-edges join.  Any escape for insects venturing inside is virtually impossible. Victims have no alternative but to make their way downwards where they end up being digested by enzymes and bacteria.  Most of the trumpet tubes will become completely full of insects in the season of growth. 

The flowers of the red-topped trumpet are bore in the springtime usually after one or two new trumpets appear.  The flower stalks usually are taller than the trumpets with deep red, highly fragrant flowers.  The flower is structured so that it will be crossed pollinated naturally by insects.  The flower is in an inverted position and its ovary adjoins the stalk at the top.  Attached to the ovary, is a style shaped like a five-pointed umbrella.  Each point is a tiny stigma.  Around the ovary are the stamens whose ripe pollen falls into the umbrella, but not on the stigmas. 

After pollination occurs, you may collect the seed after the ovary turns brown and before it splits, releasing the seeds.  These seed should be stored in a cool dry place, until spring, when they should be sewn on damp peat and kept moist until they germinate.  Germination usually occurs in about 2 to 3 weeks.  Don’t transplant your seedlings until after their first trumpet-shaped leaves appear. 

 When flowering, the red pitcher plant produces a side stalk with blooms opening one after another and ranging from light purple , pink to white.  The flowers self pollinate and produce large amounts of seed which germinate readily.  Plants with red pigment on the leaves will have purple or pink blooms and plants without red tent will have white blooms.  Seed from either plant can produce blooms of each color without being cross pollinated.  The healthiest and most colorful plants are achieved by exposing them to strong sunlight, inside or outside.

This plant is an active fly-paper trap.  With the digestive glands mainly in the center of the leaf, the plant will move small insects there.  It will kink or completely roll around larger insects. A healthy plant is capable of catching prey as large as a fly but normally catches smaller insects, the larger ones are able to crawl off the leaf.