etiolated Sarrs

Barry Meyers-Rice (barry@as.arizona.edu)
Fri, 25 Feb 94 08:14:31 MST

Matt:

>Thanks for the info. The part about etiolation would explain why my
>_Sarr._ seedlings are so long, too. (They are 10 inches to a foot long.) I

Yeah, well if these are the ``parsely'' plants we were talking about before,
I have no doubt they aren't _Sarrs_.

>get it in vitro. But I'm pretty sure now that the mature _Sarr._ I have is a
>purp. purp. heterophylla. It's always green with just a little red venation
>at the mouth of th pitchers. It's in the process of producing seeds now

Well, here's the scoop. _S. purpurea_ has two subspecies, the southern called
_ssp. venosa_, the northern is what I believe is called the autonym
_S.purpurea ssp. purpurea_. Now, both plants are richly coloured in reds,
the exact pattern varies from site to site and plant to plant. I have an
absolutely beautiful _S.purp. purp_ from Connecticut that Michael C. gave me,
for example, which maintains sharply defined blood red veins against a green
background all year long. My other clones turn full red during the winter.
I have another pot of _ssp. venosa_ plants which are much paler with mild
red venation.

In one or maybe a few counties in Michigan, a very few places in Canada,
and I vaguely remember a record in another US state, a form of _S.purp purp_
is found. This very rare plant is characterised by the complete lack of
any red pigmentation. This character is genetically fixed. It has the
name _S.purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla_. If your mature _Sarr_
has any, note---any, red venation, it simply cannot be this plant. It
may be another purp. purp., it may be a purp. venosa, it may be a cross
between those two, it may even be a cross with _f. heterophylla_, but
it just can't be pure _f. heterophylla_---that dog won't hunt!

On a related matter, some people on this list know I've been looking for
a red-pigment-deficient form of _S.leucophylla_. Several times I have
gotten plants claiming to be this critter, but each time they have shown
varying amounts of red pigment. Again, not the true beast. But I keep
looking!

> The Botany department is also giving me what appears to be a _Drosera
>rotundafolia_ which is in flower. I'll get that tomorrow as well. What color

_D.rotundifolia_ usually produces white flowers, but this is not a great
character for keying. After they flower you should get seed. Those are good
for keying this plant from its southern comrade _D.capillaris_.

_D.capillaris_ often but not always flowers pink.

Bazza=Barry