Pictures From The Field - July 2001

Here's a continuation of my field trip in July, 2001. Some of the sites I visited had a heavy concentration of both S. flava and S. leucophylla. Although these two parents easily hybridize, I was glad to see that in these sites the hybrids were kept in check, so that they only made up about 10% or less of the total plant populations. But when they do hybridize, the resulting offspring can be incredible. Check these out:

This is S. flava x S. leucophylla (S. x mooreana). This picture does this plant absolutely no justice!! Also, the flava pitchers from early spring were begining to die down, and this pitcher showed the same signs. But in early may, this pitcher would have simply been incredible. It basically looks like a red flava with a white lid. The lid has no green in it whatsoever, but does have some maroon veining. This plant is worthy of cultivar status, but will remain in the wild for now.
Another view of this awesome plant. One can only imagine what it looked like when the pitcher was only weeks old. The pitcher seemed to have little leucophylla influence other than the white top (you might can see just a little influence of leuco under the lip on the inside of the pitcher.). It was essentially a white top flava. The holes in the top of the lid were most likely formed by the intense sunlight burning the areas of heavy nectar production.

Most probably S. flava x S. leucophylla, or perhaps a more complex hybrid such as S. flava x (S. leucophylla x S. rubra). The pitcher structure suggests a possible rubra influence, and S. rubra was in the vicinity. Whatever it is, it's very nice.

Another plant of S. flava x S. leucophylla.

A young hybrid of S. flava x S. rosea (S. x Catesbaei)

A  nice clump of S. flava. This may be one plant with multiple growth crowns. Notice that
the flowers aer barely visible above the tall grass.  (There is one at the bottom center of the picture.) When the grass gets another 8" taller, these plants will be virtually invisible. On the other hand, S. leucophylla's have very tall flower scapes, which can tower over even the tallest of grasses. There are two S. leucophylla flowers in the background which tower over even the flava pitchers.

A group of S. flava x S. leucophylla in the fore ground. Flavas can be seen to the upper left of the photo, and S. leucophylla flowers can be seen to the upper right.

Although they are undoubteldy the most abundant Sarracenia in the southern US, S. psittacina can be very difficult to find by mid to late summer due to the high growth of grasses. These non-flowering plants are difficult to see even in a cleared section of the savannah. Larger flowering plants will be totally covered by grasses this time of year, making them virtually impossible to find.  Pulling a tuft of grass back may reveal plants like psittacina, rosea, and drosera, but may also reveal snakes and other novelties of the bog.


D. capillaris in the field. I never tire of seeing these plants in the wild, especially when they form massive clumps along a wet depression.