June 1, 2010 Inland Variety of Darlingtonia californica, Southern Oregon

[meizwang]

So most people say that D. californica isn't tolerant of heat. Well, I visited this particular population a few years back in late autumn and the air temperature was in the high 90's (approx. 36C) and the luke warm water was barely moving in the seeps. I believe that this is the heat tolerant variety of Darlingtonia, as the conditions here are certainly exposed to more heat than the coastal and high mountain varieties.

Upon visiting this site on June 1st, 2010, it was cold, but so was the entire state!

An overview of the habitat. If you zoom in on the picture, you'll see some darlingtonia

The scenery was just breath-taking. I suppose this is at a lower elevation, relative to other cobra populations

Plants blooming in habitat:

The seeps were filled with water this time of the year, forming little streams:

Another habitat ovewview:

An old pitcher from last year's growth:

new flower and old pod:

bloomed out flower, showing swelling, fertilized ovary (seed pod). Check out the red sepals:

New pitcher-this was the only fully developed pitcher I could find in the entire seep:

same pitcher, side view:

P. macroceras ssp. nortensis growing in moving water and decomposing grass substrate:

closer shot of the pings

Cypripedium californicum (the rare california lady slipper orchid) growing with the cobras:

closer picture of the cypripediums:

macro shot:

new darlingtonia sprouts:

Some nice rhododendrons in full bloom:

The last site I wanted to visit in Northern California was still a good 3 feet (meter) under snow. In this picture, you are looking at the Darlingtonia habitat on June 1, 2010. In the foreground, you are looking at a frozen lake-and there are people standing on it to the right! Keep in mind this is summertime here in California, and locals say the snow won't melt until mid July! I wonder how those darlingtonia are doing under the snow?!

Edited June 15, 2010 by meizwang

[Zlatokrt]

Really nice pics, thank you for sharing.

[jimscott]

How tall are those plants?

[meizwang]

How tall are those plants?

Hi Jim,

These pitchers are about a maximum of 2.5 feet tall. They weren't particularly all that big, but they had a unique bronze-yellow tinge to the pitchers. This color might be environmentally induced, perhaps from the warmer temperatures and high intensity sunlight.

Here's a picture from the same site I took a few years back. I visited during the fall when all the pitchers were in full force. Notice there isn't much red on the lip, but the color is still spectacular:

Here's a coastal variety-look at how red this one got!

I really think we are missing the genetic diversity in cultivation-there's so many slight differences from one population to another, which makes the species really interesting. The question is whether this is genetic or environmental? Cephalotus is a great example-you can have two plants of the same clone-one is totally green and the other is red with stripes on the inner lid. There's just so much we don't know about these plants!

Edited June 16, 2010 by meizwang

[Greg Allan]

Thanks for sharing such fascinating photos and information. Do you know what minimum temps this plant can take in its colder habitats such as the snow covered site?

Greg

[LoopyLee]

Thank you for sharing the photos, I always find it fascinating to see plants in their natural habitat.

[Alexander Nijman]

Very intersting about Darlingtonia in the wild. I had never heard that they stay until mid Juli under snow. That means that they have a very short growingseason! Very similair to alpine plants. Here in The Netherlands my experience is that they are completely winterhardy.

I had them growing in spaghnum for many years along a pond.

Alexander

[Carlos Rohrbacher]

Thanks for sharing your pictures, great report!

[meizwang]

Thanks for sharing such fascinating photos and information. Do you know what minimum temps this plant can take in its colder habitats such as the snow covered site?

Greg

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your kind remarks. It's a pleasure to share the experience with fellow CP enthusiasts, and I'm glad you all are enjoying the pictures as much as I do!

Greg-the lows in the winter seldom get below 7 degrees C (20 degrees F), but I bet they can take slightly lower temperatures than that.