Discovery of a yellow flowered Sarracenia leucophylla

[sflynn1]

Hello, recently while I was exploring a bog in Escambia County, Fl, I discovered a group of Sarracenia leucophylla that had yellow flowers, these plants where growing along side normal Sarracenia leucophylla that had red flowers. The plants only grew in a small section of the bog and there where only about ten individuals. I do not believe they are truly anthocynine (sorry if i misspelled that)free because the flowers had small amounts of red on the tops. I have not been able to study the pitchers yet since only the flowers have come up but I have marked the plants and will study them throughout the year.

Also I am 99% sure that these plants are not hybrids with any yellow flowered Sarracenia, as only S. psitttanica, S. rosea and S. leucophylla occur at this bog and only one other yellow flowered pitcher plant occurs in this county naturally, S. flava, but it is known from only two small sites 40 miles to the north. When the pitchers come up I will be able to positively confirm what it is.

Enjoy the photos!


Close-up of the flower, notice the small amounts of red on the top.


The yellow flowered form alongside the normal red flowered form.



Clumps of the yellow flowered and normal flowered plants.



The flower in the center would appear to be an intermediate form of the yellow and red flowered form.

[stevebooth]

Very interesting! please keep us up to date when you can.

Cheers
Steve

[sflynn1]

Will do! I will post photos of the pitchers when they emerge to and study them throughout the year as well

[NatchGreyes1]

That's really awesome! Definitely something to follow up on. Maybe a Carnivorous Plant Newsletter article in your future. - Natch

ngcarnivorousplants.blogspot.com/

[stevebooth]

Have you had chance to go back and look at the pitchers yet?
Cheers
Steve

[sflynn1]

I will be checking for pitchers and hopefully have pictures of them by the end of the week, keep watching!

[stevebooth]

How did you get on? what did the pitchers look like? or was it a stray flava

[sflynn1]

Sorry for the long wait, been out of town for a while, when I went back the plants had only sent up one pitcher that was so small and damaged that it was not photographable, also it is definitely not a stray flava, as there are only 3 recorded sites for S. flava in Escambia county, one of which is already gone. These colonies are all located 45 mins to the north, and I have visited all but one. On that note if anyone knows of any-other S. flava sites in escambia county fl please let me know!

Hopefully I will visit the site again soon and see if anything new has developed, until then, thanks for the interest!