Sarracenia flava “Cinnamon Tube”
A flava clone originating from Botanique
Parentage: S. flava var. rubricorpora x flava var. cuprea
Sarracenia flava “Cinnamon Tube”
A flava clone originating from Botanique
Parentage: S. flava var. rubricorpora x flava var. cuprea
In 2009 I crossed S. moorei “Orange Glow” and S. ‘Adrian Slack’. Not sure exactly what I was expecting by crossing two moorei plants together, but I can say that breeding projects involving S. ‘Adrian Slack’ have yielded some fascinating (aaaaand… even *not* so fascinating) results. I’m somewhat partial to the select youngster in the photograph below for its delicate and faded pastel color scheme. Don’t let it fool you though. This plant is still a hungry cylindrical savage.
Sarracenia “Orange Glow” x ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia “Orange Glow” x ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa
Last year I received S. “Bog Goblin” from Brooks Garcia. The parentage is Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. jonesii AF). Looks pretty anthocyanin free, right?
It’s a nice plant, but there’s something more to it which I’ll share in the next post.
Sarracenia “Bog Goblin”
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla
x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. jonesii AF)
New growth – looking very AF
Sarracenia “Bog Goblin”
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla
x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. jonesii AF)
New growth – looking very AF
Sarracenia “Bog Goblin”
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla
x (leucophylla AF x rubra ssp. jonesii AF)
Back of the pitcher.
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)
![Sarracenia [(rubra x oreophila) x flava var. rugelii] x 'Adrian Slack'](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7307/8721269667_6332ddcf4d_z.jpg)
Sarracenia ((rubra x oreophila) x flava v. rugelii) x ‘Adrian Slack’
Select plant from a 2009 cross.
Greetings from the Asylum.
Sarracenia ‘Adrian Slack’
This year, I started my seeds in the greenhouse without any use of lighting or additional heat. *GASP!* Yeah, really! I normally would start them under lights (like this), but I ended up with about 150 or so different crosses that I’m germinating this year. Germination just took a little longer that I was used to.
I only had about 30 crosses of my own that actually took and set seed last year. Yeah, only 30 because of this >FUGLY-ness< a year ago. Yo, it’s crazy to think that I was in THAT mess a year ago… That said, many other friends sent me their own seeds that I’m growing out now. (Thanks again, y’all!)
Under lights, and with the addition of heat I’ve had seeds germinate in little as one week. I didn’t feel like dealing with any lights this year so I decided to germinate the seeds under my existing conditions. I started the seeds a bit later in the year when it was warmer. It took roughly 5-6 weeks before I saw any signs of life, but I’m glad to report – they’re alive! THEY’RE ALIVE! Muahhaehah!! There’s a lot more interesting-ness that will be coming out of this 2012-2013 generation, but for now – here are a couple AF crosses I’m excited to grow out! (D’aww, aren’t they cute?!)
Left: Anthocyanin free catesbaei (Sarracenia luteola x flava ‘Supicion’)
Right: Anthocyanin free wrigleyana (Sarracenia leucophylla AF x psittacina AF)
I am saddened by the recent news of Bob Hanrahan’s passing. This is a great loss to the carnivorous plant community. My deep and sincere condolences to Bob’s family. Bob is a legend and has been such an inspiration to so many, including myself. He will be missed.
Mike Wilder in the post said, “Directly or indirectly, I believe just about everyone in the hobby has a plant that passed through Bob’s hands.” This is true for me. Plants for me are, in a sense, a living repository for our stories and memories. Moments are hidden away in each leaf blade and in each petal. Part of the joy of growing is being able to share these stories and moments with others. In fact, my very first division of S. ‘Adrian Slack’ came directly from him. We’ve had a few communications back and forth, but I regret not being able to take him up on his offer to visit his plantation. Back in 2010, Bob sent me a CD full of photos from his Carnivorous Plantation. I was living vicariously through those photos and had to do something with it. I made a (long) slideshow with the photos he sent me and I am sharing it here once again. Rest in peace Bob, and thank you so much for everything.
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When I came home just this recent Friday, I was excited to see a big ol’ box waiting for me. A box full of NEPENTHES! Yay! A HUGE thank you to Kinjie Coe for sending all of these wonderful gems. The plants arrived in great condition and I took the them to the greenhouse the next day. I spent my Saturday moving some plants around and potting up the new babies! Now, I’m still doing a lot of tinkering and experimenting with them and seeing how they’ll grow best in my area. I used to grow them under the dome, but there wasn’t enough light getting through because of the shade cloth. The shade cloth was important as it would keep the heat down in the dome, and I thought that it would be bright enough. Well, the plants were still growing, but I was noticing a lack of pitcher production, as well as a slight lack of color. After doing some reading here and there and getting input from a phenomenal Nepenthes grower, I decided to move the plants out from under the dome and into the main growing area. I temporarily placed them at the shadier end of the greenhouse for a couple of weeks just to acclimate them to stronger light. I could tell that some plants were already reacting positively to that shift. Even in the shady spot of the main greenhouse, it was just a bit brighter than the under the shade cloth. Today I was working on setting up an area for them to grow where the light is bright yet not too direct. It’s under a side of the greenhouse that has some light whitewash, as well as by a window so it’s a little cooler than the rest of the greenhouse. I moved some Sarracenia around and made some room behind the anthocyanin free Sarracenia section. I put some crates on top of the water table so the Nepenthes wouldn’t be sitting in the water, yet they’d have the humidity from the water evaporating. Now that I had a larger Nepenthes space set up, it was time to get everything potted and moved!
Above left: Potting up Nepenthes “Pandora”
Above Right: Potting up Nepenthes “Song of Melancholy”
Above are two Nepenthes from the bunch that Kinjie sent over that I was quite fond of. In actuality, I really like them all! Thanks again Kinjie! Nepenthes are so fascinating. I’ll post updates periodically now that they are in their new spot. For now, I hope that the plants enjoy their new location.
Nepenthes, relocated
Back in 2010 I crossed S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ with pollen from S. ‘Adrian Slack’ and only 4 out of the batch for that year survived. You can see more photos of the first clone that really took off this year in this post. For now I’m giving them a numerical designation. I’m partial to clones one and two. Both of these have clear influence from both parent plants. I’d love to see more of that angular nectar roll, but who knows if that characteristic would be reflected as it matures next year. I like the color on clone three, but I want to see how the pitchers will be like next year. Clone four turned out to be the runt of this pack. Pitchers are still very small on four and not too exciting for me. We’ll see what it will do in the coming years.
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ – Clone 1
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ – Clone 2
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ – Clone 2
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ – Clone 2
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ – Clone 3
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ – Clone 4
Sarracenia minor is one of those plants that have such simple and streamlined beauty. No frills, no overly loud-melt-your-face-off colors for the most part (although I enjoy that too…) It’s just a simple hood, and windows to draw prey by. Minimalistic elegance. I’m enamored by the anthocyanin free version of it as it really draws my attention to the gracious form and beauty of the plant. As with the other anthocyanin free plants, the bright neon green makes it seem as if the plant were glowing. Here are a couple different clones of anthocyanin free Sarracenia minor.
Sarracenia minor – anthocyanin free
Sarracenia minor – anthocyanin free
A new batch of S. ‘Leah Wilkerson’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ are throwing out some promising pitchers. S. “Legacy” is made up of the same cross. I received these seeds from Brooks Garcia a couple of years ago and am really excited to see how they’ll evolve over the next few years. There looks to be some interesting variations already.
Sarracenia ‘Leah Wilkerson’ x ‘Adrian Slack’
Cross by Brooks Garcia, 2011
Sarracenia ‘Leah Wilkerson’ x ‘Brooks Gracia’
Cross by Brooks Garcia, 2011
The one above reminds me a bit of S. “Legacy” as it was growing up. The pitchers are still young and the plant will undergo some maturing through the years. It will be fun to keep track of their growth!
The quest for more anthocyanin free goodness continues! Here’s one interesting cross that I will be using in future breeding efforts. The parents are S. flava var. rugelii x flava ‘Suspicion’. It’s anthocyanin free recessive (having that “hidden” AF gene) and when it blooms, I am looking to produce more AF plants by selfing it and/or crossing it with other AF or AF recessive plants. I like the slight pin stripe veins, the muddy splotch in the throat, and lip color that some of these plants have. Sweet!
Sarracenia flava var. rugelii x flava ‘Suspicion’
Sarracenia flava var. rugelii x flava ‘Suspicion’
Howdy! Here’s an update on this little mash up…
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Sarracenia (leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora)
x “Green Monster”
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.
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – clone 15
I was going through some photos from earlier this year and found this angular beast. The photo was taken back on 27 April. Kinda late, I know. Had to share though… This peculiar plant has got some crazy angles going on! The cross was done by Dr. Travis Wyman and I started germinating the seed I got from him back in 2008. Phil Faulisi’s creation – S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ has a clear influence on this plant. The spring pitchers on this plant so far are typically the largest and exhibit some of the craziest angles. Pitchers later in the season are a little shorter, but still showcase a little bit of the angular peristome. Sweet.
Darlingtonia californica
My Darlingtonias have been off to a slow start this year. I’m guessing in part because I’m keeping them on the shadier side of the greenhouse – where it’s cool. If I move them in the middle, they may burn as it can get mighty warm in the sun. They love light, I know… It’s making me miss outdoor growing where I could have it cool and sunny all day. I should probably throw a couple Darlingtonia out in the bright/hot area there to see how they fare. It’s friggin’ June — and while some of the Sarracenia pods are already ripening – the Darlingtonia are only throwing out their new pitchers …now. Oh well. Better late than never…
Drosophyllum lusitanicum
Awwww! Isn’t it cute?! Here’s a young plant only a month old or so. I’m feeding it some dried bloodworms for additional sustenance. Yummy! This little seedling sprung up from one of the seeds that came from this colossal beast. Three have sprouted, but only two have survived. One of the seedlings died after throwing up two leaves for whatever reason, and the remaining two look good. This is the larger of the two seedlings. One thing I’m going to do when I transplant this is put it in a larger pot than it’s parent was in. (Yes, you can transplant Drosophyllum but you have to be very careful not to disturb the roots!) As you can see in this post the roots were pretty cramped. I think it died because the roots got stressed/shocked during one of the hot days and I didn’t keep it as wet as it should of been that day. Anyway, the circle of life starts again and I’m glad that these genetics are still alive and well.
