Yellow trumpets (Sarracenia flava Linnaeus) are spectacular, haunting denizens of the last of the pocosins, those boggy wet prairies in the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. Now, there are but a few places left where you can go to be dazzled by these graceful plants. But natural beauty is out of fashion and tract housing is in.

The ascidia (tubular leaves) of yellow trumpets can grow to 90 centimeters in height. The ascidia attract, trap, and digest insects. These leaves produce nectar at the rim and under the hood. The upper portion of the pitcher walls are waxy and provide no footing. The lower portion of the pitcher is filled with a fluid containing a wetting agent to ensure drowning and enzymes that digest proteins and chitin (exoskeleton of insects). Wasps seem particularly fond of this nectar and it never ceases to delight me when one sets foot on the slippery slope and is lost.

Yellow trumpets bloom in the spring with an alien-looking flower. Each flower is nodding, that is, hanging down from its scape. The flower has 5 sepals, 5 petals, and 5 stigmas on an umbrella-shaped style. When the flower is pollinated, the scape straightens until the style is turned upward.

The flowers produce what is nicely called a "catty aroma" when ready to be pollinated. (Actually, the smell is strongly reminiscent of an unneutered tomcat. I once put several blooming S. flava on display at a fair. My exhibit was promptly moved to a breezeway.) The flowers are only scented for a few days and not very noticeable when grown outdoors. But it does make one wonder what insect comes to pollinate the plant.

Yellow trumpets are nature's elegant solution to wet, acidic, nutrient-poor soils. They are architectural masterpieces, so much more than mere "form follows function". In a hundred years, I wonder if we will say the same about tract housing.