Has anyone seen this before??

[Fred P]

This is an Alata x Leuco cross that always ends up with coloration like in the photos - Nice red color with patches of no color at all. It's in full sun all day and never shaded. Has anyone seen this before?

[Brian Barnes]

Hi Fred. Does afternoon sun hit only one side of the plant?
Brian.

[Fred P]

No Brian. It is sitting in the direct sun all day with the rest of my collection but it's the only plant I've seen do this. It's done it every year since I bought it but usually only in the later part of summer through fall. The first pitchers of the year seem very normal. Strange!!

[glider14]

i think its rather pretty. like a dual colored sarracenia. its like when you put sunscreen on your self and miss one spot and its burnt while everywhere else is fine.

Alex

[Not a Number]

I've seen that on my S. x 'Judith Hindle', but then it only gets afternoon sun. For me, this is more likely to happen in the fall. The pitcher turned full red eventually.

[john]

Very pretty - looks like a chimaeral variegation. Probably highly unstable. You usually see them affecting single leaves only - if it has affected the main rhizome then it could be a fascinating plant. Unfortunately, divisions from the red side of the rhizome will tend to be red, and from the green side, green. It is possible to get bicoloured divisions, but not common.
Thanks for the pictures - really nice to see.

[Fred P]

I resized the photos above to make them larger.

The pitchers never did turn red either.

I agree about it being unstable John but it is quite different. It's a keeper!

[trimen1000]

drosera5150 said:

Hi Fred. Does afternoon sun hit only one side of the plant?
Brian.

It's interesting. if you look at the first photo it appears as if 2 different pitchers have the red coloring on opposite sides of the plant, suggesting that it isn't from one side of the plant getting a lot more sun (or maybe the oposite? I noticed in my own plants that when i reduced the sunlight some that they got much more red, I may make a thread about this because it confuses me).

[Brian Barnes]

Yes, you're right about that! It almost looks like the plant is getting bombarded by morning and afternoon sun, with maybe shading in the middle of the day...
Either way, lovely plant with superb coloration!
Happy Growing,
Brian.

[Fred P]

Thanks Brian.

As I said, the plant was not shaded at all. It was getting about 10 hrs of sun a day throughout the summer. What's even more strange is that the pitchers came up from the rizome that way. Also, they came up at different times so one was not shading the other. Just as an FYI, the photos were taken with the camera pointed north on Oct 6, 2007 at 1:30pmEST.

[Alexis]

Regardless of the colour strangeness, that is a really nice looking areolata!

[kath]

Try vegatively and sexually propagating it and see if the seedlings do the same
You could be onto something here...

[timv]

I think John's got it. It's a chimera. I would guess that the mutation was at the level of the cell that started the bud of the individual leaf, and I would think it practically impossible to propagate. On things like citrus trees you get them often, and since the mutated bud can form a whole branch you can graft them, but I don't see how you could do it with one of the pitcher plants.

[trimen1000]

Try turning the plant a quarter of a rotation and see what happens.

[Fred P]

Try turning the plant a quarter of a rotation and see what happens.

I did try that. It's definitely not light related. I'm going to pay closer attention this year to see if its starting at a leaf node or if its the rhizome itself.