Sarracenia alabamensis from ICPS

[Matt BS]

I think it was 2004 when I got three Sarracenia alabamensis from the ICPS conservation program. They were from populations AL001, AL002, and AL003. I'm curious what kind of variation other people have seen with their plants from this same program.
Is anyone else going to make crosses with these plants to stock the seed bank. As far as I remember that was one of the main goals of this program.

Here is a picture of the plant from population AL001


Here's two plants from population B and C in the foreground. Now that I have previewed the pictures I have realized I'll have to get better pictures for AL002, and AL003.

[BarryRice]

Hey Matt,

Well, the site coding is actually AL001, AL002, AL003, not A, B, and C. But the plants look nice!

Barry

[Michael Catalani]

matopis said:

I'm curious what kind of variation other people have seen with their plants from this same program.

That will be interesting.

I didnt see a lot of substantial variation in the wild when I visited the largest S. alabamensis location, which is where the variation would have most likely been spotted. There were some greener plants, some tinted more tan, and others tinted more red, but the variations seemed a lot more subtle than with other species of Sarracenia.

Also, some of the color variations could have been caused by differences in lighting, as the plants had a tree canopy over them to some degree for parts of the day.

What I did find interesting is that the plants grow naturally on the slope of a hill which contains a seepage. They dont grow on top of the hill or down below in the flat sections, but right in the middle of the slop. The slope grade can be rather steep in areas.

Another interesting point was that the top soil was made up of gravel, with an underlayment that appeared to be primarily sand. The top part of the soil could be dry as a rock as well, but a few inches beneath there was an abundance of water. I was talking to Keith Tassin from TNC-Alabama about this because it I thought it could cause problems with seed germination, and he told me that the guys at Atlanta Botanical Gardens claimed they could probably germinate the seed on asphalt. In any case, you could have a crowd of people walk amongst these plants and cause very little damage to the ground area, whereas in most other Sarracenia locations I can tell if a chipmunk had been foraging there a few weeks beforehand.

These plants really do have a very unique habitat for Sarracenia, but I just didnt see a lot of substantial variations in the plants.

[John Brittnacher]

michaelcatalani said:

These plants really do have a very unique habitat for Sarracenia, but I just didn't see a lot of substantial variations in the plants.

Growing the plants for the ICPS project and saving a selection of each location, we didn't see much variation either. As I recall, one location had no variation among the 6 plants. This is setting the mature plants next to each other and asking can I see any, just any, difference between them. Nope. One location basically had two subtly different types--the odd variant had a wider pitcher top and faint aerioles. Three plants of each type, no differences among types. The third location had slight variation in spring pitcher color--more copper--and one plant with a longer hood. There was also a special plant, out of hundreds from that location, that was very copper but it was, alas, a runt.

So, yes, if you have seen one S. alabamensis, you have basically seen them all. Those of you with ICPS plants, cross them between locations and send the seeds to the seed bank or give them to your friends. It is best not to self Sarracenia if you want healthy offspring.