S. flava var. rugelii Eastern Alabama
May 15, 2018 12:37:06 GMT -5
kiwiearl, calen, and 8 more like this
Post by meizzwang on May 15, 2018 12:37:06 GMT -5
Many of you in the past 2 years or so received S. flava var. rugelii from this Eastern Alabama population. If you have pics of your plants, feel free to post here!
Why is this particular population of flavas significant? Cuz flavas are near extinct in Alabama! Of course, this is a man-made scarcity because the boarders of Alabama are man made. Flavas overall are threatened, but not near extinction like they are within the boundaries of Alabama. Many decades ago, I heard there were quite a few populations in the southern portion of Alabama, but as far as I know, every last one of these populations have been destroyed. Nevertheless, as pointed out by Calen in another post, boarders and county designations are artificial and are not necessarily directly proportional to genetic diversity.
Anyways, back to the Eastern Alabama population: many of you may have noticed on the tags of these plants, it says "possibly giant" (and if it doesn't, I was tired and wanted to go to bed when writing that label, LOL) This is because perhaps half of the plants that the divisions came from are showing abnormally large lids and heads even though they haven't yet reached vegetative maturity! The traps aren't yet tall, yet they're proportionally giant for their height! The lids and heads relative to the size of the rhizomes are enormous! Are these "genetic giants" or the result of hybrid vigor? Probably both.
Another interesting observation is the presence of S. flava "var. cuprea" in this population. The formation of coppery lids might be relic genes from mooreis from one or a few generations ago...either that, or atropurpureas that may have existed in the distant past may have hybridized with rugelii, and then they back-crossed. In Eastern Alabama, S. leucophylla and S. naczii are abundant. This color form seems quite different from the Carolina cupreas.
I remember in Okaloosa Co, FL (and many others have observed the same thing), there are giant fields that have naczii's in them, but not a single rosea can be found. This suggests either the roseas were present and died out in the past, or insects are bringing in pollen from nearby populations and making crosses.
With all that background information in mind, here's some S. flava var. rugelii Eastern Alabama, photos taken 5/15/18. It's difficult to judge size in the pictures below since there's nothing to compare, so I'll probably have to snap some more pics for you guys. Note, since there are probably less than a handful of flava populations in Alabama , the county designation has been omitted:
Check out the angled lip on the tall cuprea to the right(ish), I think Phil went out there decades ago and planted reptilian rose in the mix, LOL
closer shot of the angled lip, very peculiar:
Why is this particular population of flavas significant? Cuz flavas are near extinct in Alabama! Of course, this is a man-made scarcity because the boarders of Alabama are man made. Flavas overall are threatened, but not near extinction like they are within the boundaries of Alabama. Many decades ago, I heard there were quite a few populations in the southern portion of Alabama, but as far as I know, every last one of these populations have been destroyed. Nevertheless, as pointed out by Calen in another post, boarders and county designations are artificial and are not necessarily directly proportional to genetic diversity.
Anyways, back to the Eastern Alabama population: many of you may have noticed on the tags of these plants, it says "possibly giant" (and if it doesn't, I was tired and wanted to go to bed when writing that label, LOL) This is because perhaps half of the plants that the divisions came from are showing abnormally large lids and heads even though they haven't yet reached vegetative maturity! The traps aren't yet tall, yet they're proportionally giant for their height! The lids and heads relative to the size of the rhizomes are enormous! Are these "genetic giants" or the result of hybrid vigor? Probably both.
Another interesting observation is the presence of S. flava "var. cuprea" in this population. The formation of coppery lids might be relic genes from mooreis from one or a few generations ago...either that, or atropurpureas that may have existed in the distant past may have hybridized with rugelii, and then they back-crossed. In Eastern Alabama, S. leucophylla and S. naczii are abundant. This color form seems quite different from the Carolina cupreas.
I remember in Okaloosa Co, FL (and many others have observed the same thing), there are giant fields that have naczii's in them, but not a single rosea can be found. This suggests either the roseas were present and died out in the past, or insects are bringing in pollen from nearby populations and making crosses.
With all that background information in mind, here's some S. flava var. rugelii Eastern Alabama, photos taken 5/15/18. It's difficult to judge size in the pictures below since there's nothing to compare, so I'll probably have to snap some more pics for you guys. Note, since there are probably less than a handful of flava populations in Alabama , the county designation has been omitted:
Check out the angled lip on the tall cuprea to the right(ish), I think Phil went out there decades ago and planted reptilian rose in the mix, LOL
closer shot of the angled lip, very peculiar: