Umm, that would surely beg the question - how can there be internodal
distances on the petioles?
> > up with fresh peat, but as best as I can remember, the pitchers are
> > growing from typical rhizome with a gnarled surface like ginger,
> > rather than a stem. I've never had an internodal distance of more
> > than a few mm, or a total height of more than 5 or 6 cm though (but
> > perhaps if I left them to keep on growing like that...)
>
> Actually, rhizomes ARE stems.
I should probably have put quotes around that - you are quite right,
they are. But they are not typical of the structure (like Genlisea
and Utricularia leaves/"roots",) so I wasn't sure if (though strongly
suspect that,) the description related to the same phenomenon as my
own ascending rhizomes, or to something new. I hadn't intended the
clear implication that rhizomes are roots in my last paragraph, just
that they have to grow into the soil in the same manner.
Sorry for any confusion.
> The only Sarracenia which grows with
> it's rhizome under the surface of the soil is S. minor. Most S.purps
> grow in living Sphagnum and grow upward as the surface of the Sphagnum
> grows up. I doubt you really need to keep adding new soil around the
> stem, but if it bothers you...
I guess this explains it - neither Mike or I are growing our purps
in sphagnum, so the medium isn't rising to support the plant. Mine
are outdoors, so I worry about them snapping in the gales when they
get wobbly.
> > Just a thought that's been bugging me awhile - if S. purpurea
> > rhizomes grow vertically and S. flava rhizomes grow
> > horizontally, do S. X catesbaei rhizomes grow diagonally? I
> > guess it depends on the genetic factors controlling
> > geotropism...?
>
>
> All the Sarracenia species DO grow diagonally upward, but you may not
> see this effect if the plants get moved every couple years or so.
I dimly remember reading the horizontal/vertical bit in SLACK(?),
though I can't immediately check it (I've lent the book out,) and
could easily be wrong (it is a very dim memory now I think about
it.) I've always tended to plant my purps vertically and all the
other ones horizontally, so perhaps they're just adjusting to this.
I wonder if they'd readjust if I swapped them round? :-)
Happy growing,
Peter
snail:Peter Cole,17 Wimmerfield Cr. :mailto:carnivor@bunyip.demon.co.uk
Killay, SWANSEA SA2 7BU, WALES :http://www.angel.co.uk/flytrap/index.htm
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