Tag Archives: Sarracenia rubra

Species

Back to basics, shall we?

Sarracenia species.  Below you’ll find the cornerstones of what the hybrids are built upon.  I’ve recently been even more appreciative of the species; probably due to the hybrid madness that’s going on with me right now. I love the complexities, the various breeding combinations, and the whole roll-of-the-dice that you get when breeding plants.  You never know what you’ll get! Patience required, but hybridizing is very awesome indeed.

That said, I’ve been only breeding/hybridizing for the past 2-3 years.  I’m just starting and am only just starting to see some of my work come to fruition.  All of this crossing, combining, creative madness has gotten me to really appreciate the species so much, and to realize the importance of preserving them.

Below are a few photos of the species and a listing of their subspecies/variations.  Keep in mind, that even within species, there is much diversity in color, shape, and size.  The photos below are for illustrative purposes to give you a very general feel/sense of what each of these species is all about.  Taxonomy for the plants are debated in some cases (depending on who you talk or argue with) — but for now, I’ll try to keep it simple… 🙂


[Sarracenia alata: Pale Pitcher Plant]

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[Sarracenia flava : Yellow pitcher plant]

– Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea

– Sarracenia flava var. cuprea

-Sarracenia flava var. maxima

– Sarracenia flava var. ornata

-Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora

-Sarracenia flava var. rugelii

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[Sarracenia leucophylla: White pitcher plant]

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[Sarracenia minor : Hooded pitcher plant
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-Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis

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[Sarracenia oreophila : Green pitcher plant]

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[Sarracenia psittacina : Parrot pitcher plant]

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[Sarracenia purpurea : Purple pitcher plant]

-Sarracenia purpurea subsp. purpurea

-Sarracenia purpurea subsp. purpurea f. heterophylla

-Sarracenia purpurea subsp. venosa : Southern pitcher plant

-Sarracenia purpurea subsp. venosa var. burkii

-Sarracenia purpurea subsp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola

-Sarracenia purpurea subsp. venosa var. montana

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[Sarracenia rubra : Sweet pitcher plant]

-Sarracenia rubra subsp. alabamensis : Alabama pitcher plant

-Sarracenia rubra subsp. gulfensis : Gulf coast pitcher plant

-Sarracenia rubra subsp. jonesii

-Sarracenia rubra subsp. wherryi : Red pitcher plant

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Hangin' out

As I was sorting out some seedlings a couple weeks back, I discovered one of the pitcher plants kinda … hangin’ out.  Well, that thing on it was hangin’ out.

This is a 2 1/2 year old seed grown clone of S. rubra ssp. wherryi “Chatom Giant” x “Sky watcher” (cross created by Brooks Garcia) – what impresses me with this plant is that — that thing. You know,  that long thing on the hood. Reminds me of an angler or something. 🙂  Now, not all the crosses from this grex look the same, (grex is just a geeky way of saying the plants that came from the same hybrid group):  some have elongated lids,  some are showing more color, some are  exhibiting more flared hoods from the S. “Sky watcher” parentage — but they all look interesting.  I hope that it gets some of that size from it’s rubra ssp. wherryi “Chatom Giant” as it matures.  Yeah. 😉

Sarracenia rubra ssp. wheryii x "Skywatcher"[Sarracenia rubra ssp. wherryi “Chatom Giant” x “Sky Watcher”]

Sarracenia rubra ssp. gulfensis "black" x "Bug Bat"

Happy Friday! Happy weekend indeed! YEAH! So here’s another intriguing cross I did last year.  Again, the seedling is putting up some pitchers that are showing some character now. I was out in the yard the other morning and found this particular plant pretty durn interesting as the morning sun was hitting the pitchers.  It’s exhibiting the characteristic color of it’s S. rubra ssp. gulfensis “black” parent and the very interesting Sarracenia “Bug Bat”.

(Ok – side note for all you Sarracenia-heads: there has been some question regarding the pod parent – there is speculation that it is not a pure S. rubra ssp. gulfensis and could have some S. alata mixed into it.  However, from what I am told – this particular S. rubra hails from the Yellow River area of  Florida, and it is doubtful that S. alatas grow that far east.)

Sarracenia rubra "black" x "Bug Bat"[Sarracenia rubra ssp. gulfensis “Black” x “Bug Bat”]