Saturday, December 4, 2010

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea - Reytter clone 1



Data at a glance...

Latin name                           Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea
Clone name                          Reytter's clone
Acquired                               Summer 2009, at the AUSCPS Mt Tomah sale day
Pitcher flush pattern            1-2: 1+(s): P (Sp: Su: Au) 
Growth strength                   Slow to grow and divide.
Division types                      Meristem division at flowering. No evidence of rhizome node division yet.

Pitcher description

Lid with filament under-developed, maroon red with veins weakly marked, margin not undulating. Throat with thin red thoat patch and venation extending into the upper pitcher and lid. Pitcher tube interior tan, tube externally maroon red. Pigment reduced to absent entirely if repotted. Flower yellow, petals narrow, margins undulating, flava type scent.

Notes

This clone originates from the collection of Phil Reytter, but its earlier history is unknown. It recently became obvious that a second of Phil's S. flava is a var. atropurpurea (ie. his var. cuprea), so this is clone 1 because it is the plant he has historically sold as var. atropurpurea. This and Reytter clone 2 are probably the most pure strains of S. flava var. atropurpurea present in Australia as mature plants. Like with other clones of this variety, clone 1 is not a particularly robust plant (clone 2 is stronger and gets a lot larger). It produces 1-2 pitchers in spring, followed by a few weak, floppy pitchers mid season. My plant has not divided via rhizome nodes as yet, only by meritstem division induced by flowering. I am eager to see how it goes in future, as I this year moved it into a 20 cm (9") pot that should provide a few years of stable growing conditions. This plant does not take kindly to root interference. I am quite partial to S. flava var. atropurpurea, so this plant has pride of place in the collection.