sand, plant mapping, S. alata x S. purpurea question

L235@aol.com
Wed, 28 Feb 1996 16:01:24 -0500

Three, three, three threads in one!

1. Thanks to all for their collective wisdom on safe sand for CPs. My
punishment now for leaping before looking is spending the weekend repotting
15 or so plants, to remove the play sand they're now languishing in. (BTW,
the hardware store clerk said, as he was standing in front of rows of toxic
insecticides and herbicides "we don't carry silica sand ... isn't that stuff
supposed to be hazardous?" Had to laugh)

2. What practical good does county-level mapping do for the proposed
project? If the goal is to protect individual sites, they can vary
WIDELY within a single county. (e.g. Franklin County Florida: P.
ionantha sites are far removed from S. minor sites, and all are within
limited ranges .... identifying both with a county designation won't
allow conservationists to protect the logging (or potentially logged)
sites from destruction). At the same time, however, it would protect
these plants from wholesale collection (retail collection is another
matter) assuming the sites are still there for that. A dilemma, I
believe.

3. Will attempt my first inter-species Sarracenia cross this spring, between
S. alata and S. purpurea venosa. Don't see it listed in Slack's "Carnivorous
Plants" though I assume their ranges overlap somewhat in Alabama or elsewhere
and they both seem to be early bloomers. Has anyone done this artificially?
What does it look like? Is it horrendous?

Jay Lechtman
L235@aol.com