Sarracenia “Smurf”
The fugly freak… but I love it!
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Tag Archives: purpurea
Sarracenia “Smurf”
Rising From the Wreckage
It’s that time of year where many of the pitchers from earlier this season are turning into a wreck. Many of the Sarracenia flava and oreophila pitchers are getting crispy. It’s kind of that in between time for me right now. Some plants are fading, while the S. leucophyllas and their hybrids are starting to put out the fall pitchers. During this time of year, the seed pods start ripening and I start preparing for the next generation. Lots of interesting stuff in the works and I’ll share more on this later. For now, enjoy a few frames of fresh foliage rising above the fading pitchers.
Sarracenia “Wilkerson’s White Knight”
x purpurea ssp. venosa – Columbus Co., NC
Cross by Wes Buckner
Sarracenia catesbaei
Sarracenia ‘Abandoned Hope’
Sarracenia ‘Judith Hindle’ x ‘Ladies in Waiting’
Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” OP
Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora
Cross by Phil Faulisi
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x leucophylla “Pale” – Clone 1
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
The pitcher falling to the right of the frame is
S. ‘Reptilian Rose’, just in case you’re wondering.
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x leucophylla “Pale” – Clone 3
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
The angular nectar roll of the S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ was tamed by the leucophylla in this plant, however the resulting specimen is still rather quite lovely.
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x leucophylla “Pale” – Clone 3
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Another look at this colorful pitcher.
Sarracenia oreophila x ‘Adrian Slack’
Posted in Blog
Tagged Abandoned Hope, Adrian Slack, Catesbaei, Columbus, County, fading, flava, hybrid, Judith Hindle, Ladies in Waiting, leucophylla, NC, op, oreophila, pale, purple lips, purpurea, rising from the wreckage, rubricorpora, Sarracenia, venosa, Wilkerson's White Knight
Young and Green
Here’s some young green (anthocyanin free) plants! There’s still a lot of evolving to do, but so far, so good!
Sarracenia (rubra ssp. jonesii AF x minor var. okefenokeensis)
x “Green Monster”
This AF plant is the result of crossing one AF recessive plant with an anthocyanin free plant. This seedling is the only one that survived the multiple moves. Glad that it was the AF one that survived!
Sarracenia moorei AF
Sarracenia mitchelliana AF x “Green Monster”
Sarracenia venosa AF F2
Sarracenia courtii AF x purpurea ssp. venosa AF
Sarracenia ((purpurea heterophylla x rubra ssp. jonesii AF) x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. gulfensis AF)) x “Green Monster”
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…and here are a few AF recessive babies that should be fun to work with in future breeding projects!
Sarracenia “Green Monster” x rosea “Big Mama”
Sarracenia “Green Monster” x rosea “Big Mama”
I think the little seedling that photo-bombed this photo may be S. “Green Monster” – F2. It’s possible that some of pollen from the pod parent may have gotten on the stigma. At this point, it certainly looks that way.
Sarracenia rosea “Big Mama” x venosa AF
Sarracenia ‘Doodle Bug’ OP Hybrid x “Green Monster”
Posted in Anthocyanin Free, Blog
Tagged Anthocyanin, Big Mama, Courtii, Free, Green monster, heterophylla, jonesii, leucophylla "red", minor, mitchelliana, moorei, okefenokeensis, purpurea, recessive, rosea, rubra, Sarracenia
Harvest
A bit early, I know. There’s been a few plants that for some reason, ended up rotting for some unexplained reason after doing so well for years. (It happens.) In this case, the S. rosea “Big Mama” – once a huge multi point plant that I’ve had for years – just decided to go to the bog in the sky. UGH!! But why now?! Frustrating!! I’m thankful that at least a few others friends have this plant as a back up and had extras, and I’m thankful that I was able go replace it. Anyway, one of the pods on this was used in a cross with pollen from the monstrosity – Sarracenia “Smurf.”
It was a cross I did early in the year so I am hoping that these seeds are viable. A similar situation happened in July of last year with S. alata AF. I’m sad to report those seeds did not sprout, and couple others who I’ve sent seeds to also reported that theirs did not sprout. I hope that this isn’t the case with this one.
A few other plants that I crossed early in the year also appear to have ripe seed pods too. Greenhouse growing is something else and I’m getting the hang of growing in such a big space. I speculate that hot days could of contributed to some of these seed pods to also brown up prematurely? Who knows. Time will tell if these seeds are good.
Sarracenia purpurea “Big Mama” x “Smurf”
Sarracenia purpurea “Big Mama” x “Smurf”
Baby Big Mama Tina
Last year I crossed Sarracenia rosea “Big Mama” with pollen from Sarracenia purpurea “Tina.” (Tina was the pollen donor daddy here.) I was going for a large purpurea plant – massive like “Big Mama” with the pale color of S. purpurea “Tina.” I was also thinking it would be nifty should any of the throat splotch pattern transfers over.
[Random tangent: *Ahem* — Tina, eat the food.]
Well, the first real looking baby pitcher of the cross finally opened! It’s still too early to tell if Tina’s yellowish pale color will remain, or if the throat splotch will appear on some clones, but so far first pitcher is looking good. The other seedlings haven’t put up any pitchers of defining characteristics yet so stay tuned!
Sarracenia rosea “Big Mama” x purpurea “Tina”
Up and Coming AF Seedlings
If you know me, you know I can’t get enough of the anthocyanin free plants! Here are a few up and coming green seedlings. Some are a result of breeding with anthocyanin free recessive plants (those plants with that hidden mutation that suppresses anthocyanin production) with other AF plants. Others are just a result of straight AF breeding lines. Fun stuff!
Sarracenia (leucophylla x purpurea heterophylla) x leucophylla AF
The parentage of this plant consisted of one AF recessive plant, and one AF plant. One of the surviving seedlings from this cross turned out to be AF, while the other clearly exhibits the presence of anthocyanin.
Sarracenia (rubra ssp. jonesii AF x minor var. okefenokeensis)
x “Green Monster”
The parentage of this cross also consists of one AF recessive parent, and one pure AF plant. I’ve had a couple plants sprout from this batch, but this was the only survivor. I’m glad it turned out to be AF.
Sarracenia mitchelliana AF x “Green Monster”
This cross uses pure AF parentage – S. mitchelliana AF and S. “Green Monster” which is another anthocyanin free plant.
Sarracenia moorei, AF
S. leucophylla AF X S. flava ‘suspicion’
Both parents of this cross are AF resulting in AF progeny.
Posted in Anthocyanin Free, Breeding
Tagged anthocyanin free, Green monster, jonesii, leucophylla, minor, mitchelliana, moorei, okefenokeensis, purpurea, rubra, Sarracenia, Suspicion
Bog Goblin – AF Wierdness: Part 2
In the last post, it seems that the plant I have shows off anthocyanin free qualities – without any red coloring. I mean, it’s *supposed* to be AF, right? After all, Brooks Garcia did this cross with anthocyanin free plants: Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. jonesii AF). A photo of a few of his S. “Bog Goblins” are below.
Sarracenia “Bog Goblin”
Photo by Brooks Garcia
So here’s the weird thing: the plant I have *at initial glance* seems to be AF. New pitchers have no red markings whatsoever. As the pitchers age for me, it’s a different story. There seems to be a “leakage” of anthocyanin in this anthocyanin free plant. It could stem from a variety of reasons. Could it be my environmental conditions? Water? After all, I water my plants with tap. My tap water, thankfully is clean enough but it’s not as “pure” as I would like. My water runs anywhere from 50ppm-110ppm. The water company here adds chloromine (a chlorine/ammonia compound) to treat the water.
Here’s an interesting post on the International Carnivorous Plant Society Forums. In the thread, Phil Sheridan of Meadowview points out:
“Red blushing in floral or vegetative structures of anthocyanin-free plants is possible. A classic case was Don Schnell’s anthocyanin free Sarracenia jonesii which sometimes have a slight red hint in some leaf veins. Although all Sarracenia studied to date share the lesion in the same gene which blocks anthocyanin biosynthesis there is occasional “leakage” and anthocyanin may be produced in some plants. We don’t know why yet but perhaps enzyme activity is restored due to some factor and a small amount of pigment is produced.”
It could be that something or a combination of some things on my end triggers the enzyme activity that causes this “leak” in this particular clone. Or could it be that what we’re seeing is not really anthocyanin, but another pigment like betalain? (Ehhh maybe. Or maybe not. It is said that betalain occurs in other plant families, and probably not present in Sarracenia… who knows though.) For me, the red leakage has happened on very rare occasions and in a small quantities on other plants, like the AF S. jonesii mentioned above. Perhaps only two or three times that I can recall out of all the years I’ve been growing so far.
Anyway, check it out. These older pitchers exhibit some faint red coloration in the veins. Interesting stuff!
Sarracenia “Bog Goblin”
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla
x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. jonesii AF)
Sarracenia “Bog Goblin”
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla
x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. jonesii AF)
Sarracenia “Bog Goblin”
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla
x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. jonesii AF)
Posted in Anthocyanin Free, Blog
Tagged antho free, bog goblin, Brooks Garcia, jonesii, leucophylla, mystery, Pitcher Plant, purpurea, rubra, Sarracenia
