New reticulated purpurea/rosea

[BarryRice]

Hey Folks,

I've noticed a really nice clone (or set of clones) of Sarracenia purpurea (or S. rosea) on the market lately. I first saw a flat of these at California Carnivores, and then recently after a talk I gave at the Filoli Center in Woodside California, I saw a newbie grower with some new CP purchases, including this highly reticulated Sarracenia. It is really nice---the entire pitcher body and lid is covered with a fine network of red veins, against a clear green background, rather like you see on Sarracenia rubra subsp. rubra.

The folks at California Carnivores were kind enough to give me one, and I'm growing it in a terrarium under bright light. The new pitchers are much larger and the plant is very vigorous, but it the new pitchers are still young and have not developed the venation that I'm hoping they will. Looking at the new growth on my plant, I'm guessing that this is Sarracenia rosea.

Is anyone else growing this cool plant?

[brokken]

I got one late last year from Peter. It's got beautiful venation and seems to exhibit the morphology typical of S. purpurea sub. venosa. The specimen I have has not yet developed pitchers large enough to exhibit the extended, undular hood and large lip which some seem to regard as tell-tale of rosea. It is doing very well however and if lucky I may have flowers next year - which should confirm if it's rosea or not.

Would this be the sarracenia in question?



The only other purpurea that I have that exhibits this type of reticulation is my S. purpurea ssp venosa var. montana:

[BarryRice]

Hey Brokken,

I don't know how stable the pattern is on the plant that I'm talking about. They might outgrow it. However, the plant that you photograph does NOT look like the one I'm talking about.

The one I'm talking about is covered with uniformly fine, almost hairlike veins.

Maybe I'll just have to take some photos.....

That being said, your plants are very pretty, and I agree that at this stage they look like S. purpurea subsp. venosa.

B

[Aidan]

"Reticulated" makes me think of giraffes...

Anything like this?

[BarryRice]

Hey Aidan,

No, not quite like that. That's a pattern I'm familiar with on S. purpurea. The pattern on the plants I'm taking about is more like what I've seen on S. rubra--a pattern of uniformly thick, clearly delineated, red, reticulating anastomose veins against a clear green surface. See the S. rubra image below, for example. Furthermore, this pattern is uniform over the entire pitcher surface---pitcher tube and lid. It is quite nice.

However, whether it will manifest itself on larger pitchers, and not just on the small 6 cm pitchers, is yet to be seen.

I'm somewhat regretful that I started this thread without waiting until I took photos of the plant---perhaps I jumped the gun in my enthusiasm. I'll see if I can find time to snap some pictures this weekend.