Crimson pitcher plant is native to North America, endemic to the Southeastern United States. It grows in bogs, wet savannas, sunny openings in red maple-black gum swamps, sphagnum mats along streams.
Crimson pitcher plant also called as Sarracenia leucophylla, purple trumpet-leaf, white pitcher plant, Sarracenia leucophilla, Sarracenia drummondii, is a carnivorous plant of the genus Sarracenia. This species was described by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1817.
IDENTIFY CRIMSON PITCHER PLANT - SARRACENIA LEUCOPHYLLA
Crimson pitcher plant is native to North America, endemic to the Southeastern United States. It grows in bogs, wet savannas, sunny openings in red maple-black gum swamps, sphagnum mats along streams.
Sarracenia leucophylla is a stemless herbaceous perennial with leaves modified into erect, tubular pitchers. The pitchers are 25 - 100 cm tall, narrow at the base and widening to an opening partially covered by a nearly erect hood with ruffled margins; lower part of pitcher green, hood and upper part of pitcher white with red veins.
White pitcher plant capture and digest insects and other small animals in their pitchers. Nectar is produced by glands around the top of the pitcher, luring animals to the opening with its sweet smell. Stiff, down-pointing hairs line the pitcher, encouraging the animals to slide in and impeding their escape. Enzymes dissolved in water in the base of the pitcher digest the animals, making nutrients, particularly nitrogen, available for absorption by the plant.
Purple trumpet-leaf in spring, between March and April. The solitary flower have 5 drooping, maroon petals, 4 - 7 cm long; 5 maroon sepals; and a reddish, umbrella-shaped style disk in the center of the flower. Petals fall soon after flowering, but sepals and style disk persist on the plant as the fruit, a round, warty capsule up to 2 cm wide, develops.
Some varieties and clones: Sarracenia leucophylla var. leucophylla (green, with tops dominated by white, and veined with green and red coloration); Sarracenia leucophylla var. alba (extreme amount of white pigmentation in the upper leaves and no red venation in the pitcher opening); Schnell's Ghost (yellow flower with little red in the pitchers); Hurricane Creek White (predominantly white plants); Tarnok (pitchers greater than 97 cm in height.
CRIMSON PITCHER PLANT - SARRACENIA LEUCOPHYLLA CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light and temperature:
Crimson pitcher plant need full sun. The sun is essential for the formation of the pitchers. The ideal temperature is between 5 - 15 ° C in the winter and 20 - 40 ° C in the summer.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
A substrate of 70% blonde peat + 20% sand + 10% vermiculite is recommended for Sarracenia leucophylla. It will take a pot large enough 17 - 20 cm minimum if you want to see the plants reach a respectable size. It can be installed in bog outside because it withstands temperatures of -12 ° C . For an outdoor bog , it need protect from the cold.
The repotting is done at the end of the autumn, taking all precautions so as not to damage the roots. If repotting occurs in spring or later in the season, there is a risk that flat leaves such as an empty pea pod may appear instead of well-formed pitchers.
Watering:
If the White pitcher plant is grow in a pot, it will be placed in a saucer, with about 2 cm of water, during all the growing season. As early as winter, a good decrease in humidity will be necessary, without allowing the compost to harden and dry out due to lack of water. An atmosphere that is too wet in the winter favors the appearance of molds. Additional ventilation should be provided and preventive treatment with a fungicide.
Feeding:
Do not fertilize the plants. Kept outside, the plant will catch more than enough food for themselves. If you keep your plants indoors, you can feed them with dried insects every few weeks.
Propagation:
By sowing: The seeds are sown from the harvest in the fall or placed in the bottom of the refrigerator until the spring (February). For sowing, use kind of mini-greenhouses filled with 3 cm of substrate. The seeds are then placed one by one on the surface. The appearance of the first germs can sometimes take several months. As always, never sow, even after a long wait. The seedlings are then transplanted the following year.
Buy division: when it has already reached a good size. The rhizome pieces are coated on one-third of their growth hormone surface and placed in a mini-greenhouse; open the mini-greenhouse only little by little when the new growth has reached at least 2 cm.
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