"Giant" Darlingtonia

From: Davidogray@aol.com
Date: Mon Aug 30 1999 - 12:04:39 PDT


Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 15:04:39 EDT
From: Davidogray@aol.com
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3086$foo@default>
Subject: "Giant" Darlingtonia

With respect to the naturalist at the State Park and Mr. Fung, there are no
significant forms of Darlingtonia, except the variations in the amount of red
and purple pigments ( "Othello" being anthocyanin-free, and other selections
having more or less red and purple color ). Darlingtonias are remarkably
consistent, considering the huge length of its range.

IMO, what you have seen is exactly as you described: plants responding to
different environmental conditions with different forms. "Giant" seed will
produce short, compact, flat plants when grown in hot sun on sand; "Dwarf"
plants will grow tall when in deep shade in Sphagnum. The test of this would
be to grow plants ( from seed or division ) under identical environmental
perameters and compare the growth habits. We should be very cautious of
distributing a supposed "Giant" without testing that the character is
consistent.

In my years of growing and observing Darlingtonia in Oregon, I have found
that the species has a wide range of environmental tolerance, in spite of the
information quoted like gospel in every major book on CP. This seems to be
due to a lack of understanding by the authors of the coastal populations of
Darlingtonia in Oregon, and an overextension of the understanding of the
mountain populations.

The only differences that are reported, and these are anecdotal, seem to be
that coastal-origin plants have less resistance to low temperatures, showing
more damage at about 25 deg. F. ( - 4 deg. C. ) whereas the mountain-origin
plants seem to be unharmed down as low as 12 deg. F. ( - 11 deg. C. ). There
is a form in cultivation which would seem to be more vigorous and more
stoloniferous; it is as yet unnamed. Some locations have populations with
more of the purple anthocyanin pigments, and I believe this character would
reproduce from seed, though I have not tested that notion.

Incidentally, if you found a Darlingtonia leaf of over a meter, it would
certainly be the largest ever recorded, and should be considered for
submission to an Herbarium
such as the one at Oregon State in Corvallis.

I would love to hear the opinions of Hawkeye Rondeau on these observations; I
don't think anyone has seen more Darlingtonia in habitat than he. Hawkeye?
You there?

David O. Gray ( an Oregonian living in San Francisco )



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