Re: S. purpurea subspecies venosa variety montana

From: Carl Mazur (ccp@vaxxine.com)
Date: Thu Oct 02 1997 - 15:33:17 PDT


Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 18:33:17 -0400
From: "Carl Mazur" <ccp@vaxxine.com>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3828$foo@default>
Subject: Re: S. purpurea subspecies venosa variety montana

I guess this is skeptic in me, however, has anyone done transplant
experiments to see if its an environmental thing! I'm still trying figure
out the rationale for venosa and purpurea distinction. I've seen purpurea
purpurea that look like "venosa", fuzzy, large wavy hoods etc growing in
multitutudes in Northern Ontario, and I've seen what most would call "ssp
purpurea, growing in the carolinas. Other field types have also made the
same observations. However, I would agree about the burkii, it is
morphogically very different from other purps.

Another interesting example is the var ripicola designation that was once
used to describe the Marl Bog form of purpurea. These plants are extremely
different from typical purps, very small, brittle deep red leaves, with the
whole plant not bigger than a man's fist! However, pull one out and plant
it in a typical sphagnum bog habitat, and voila! You have a typical
purpurea in a couple of years.

I suppose as human's we have this insane urge to classify things, maybe
instead of splitting hairs on purpureas maybe we should work on some of the
more obvious plants that deserve status, ie all the green "albino" forms of
Sarrs. S. purpurea f. heterophylla is formally recognized, where is S.
rubra jonesii f. heterophylla, S. psittacina f. heterophylla, S.
leucophylla f. heterophylla etc etc etc.

While I'm on this thought, how about all the alatas, people are splitting
hairs on purps when alata is more variable than any other sarr!, and yet,
no ssp, no var's, no formas or anthing of the like.

Is anyone planning on giving formal status to the rubras of western
Georgia, that we all affectionally call Ancestral? What about the mountain
form of flava that occurs in a number North Carolina mountain bogs?

Maybe I should write a paper ;-)

Best Regards,

Carl J.Mazur
Cherryhill Carnivorous Plants
Grimsby, ON Canada
http://www.vaxxine.com/ccphome
>
> Dear David,
>
> > Don Schnell and Ron Determann have identified a new variety of the
> > purple pitcher plant (S. purpurea subspecies venosa variety
> > montana). It lives in the sphagnum bogs of the southern
> > Appalachians mountains. I know it's found in Rabun County,
> > Georgia, in seepage bogs at the base of mountains. I assume it's
> > also found in North Carolina.
>
> The authors (in Castanea 62:60-62, 1997) write:
> "Range. Mountains of southwestern North Carolina, extreme South
> carolina and northern Georgia." The type is from near Etowah,
> Henderson Co., N.C.
>
> (...)
>
> > I would also appreciate it if someone could summarize the distinctive
> > characteristics of this Sarr that separates it from venosa.
>
> "...differs from vars. _venosa_ and _burkii_ in that the distal
> halves of the hood lobes are closely incurved adaxially and either
> touch or nearly touch, and the hairs lining the hood are shorter."
>
> Kind regards
> Jan



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