S. purpurea ssp. venosa var. venosa f. pallidiflora

[meizwang]

While S. rosea var. luteola and S. purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla are well known amongst collectors, S. purpurea ssp. venosa 'Antho-free' is almost unheard of. Very few people in the world have this plant.

Interestingly enough, this is a man-made plant, and my understanding is there has never been an AF S. purpurea venosa discovered in the wild to this day. Another peculiar aspect of these all green venosas is that they sometimes have folded hoods just like montanas. Under optimal conditions, the plant turns bright yellow, and sometimes the traps get bleached out from the sun and have almost a slight white tinge to them. There has been some speculation as to whether these are montanas, but I don't have enough info to support or deny such a hypothesis. What I do know for sure is that these plants are down right amazing!!!

S. purpurea ssp. venosa Antho-free, photos taken 8/4/13:

[Alexis]

Nice photos. I have 5 juveniles about 4 years old, but they are too young to be able to see the final pitcher shape.

[Mathias Maier]

Wow, thats a fantastic plant! I never seen this before! Thanks for showing us!

Best regards

Matze

[kisscool_38]

Fantastic specimen! I unfortunately lost mine some years ago, those pictures make me wnat to find another one.

[Dave Evans]

That looks like S. rosea to me...

Are you sure that isn't a hybrid between S. purpurea venosa and S. rosea?

‘NORTH’ MEETS ‘SOUTH’...?

http://www.pitcherplant.org/Online-Catalog/Sarracenia-Hybrids-and-Cultivars.html

Edited August 14, 2013 by Dave Evans

[Natale]

I do not see hair as normal for both ssp. venosa, I wrong?

[meizwang]

Thanks Everyone!

Dave-that's a great question, and the same thing popped up in my head. These are genetics from the original plant photographed and described in Stewart McPherson's new book. The non-ruffled lid is a peculiar characteristic. I think things are rather complicated with S. purpurea in general, so it's hard to jump to conclusions based on physical appearance. To recap. a discussion we had on another post perhaps a few years back, I've seen some S. purpurea venosas that look like S. rosea, and I've also seen some S. roseas that look like S. purpurea ssp. venosa:

Here's S. purpurea ssp. venosa from Brunswick Co, NC. Notice how the lip appears to be "fat" for a venosa, and check out how bulbous this plant is. Sorta reminds me of a venosa that has a rosea "look" to it:

And here's S. rosea from Baldwin Co, AL-notice how it looks sorta like an S. purpurea ssp. venosa; the lip doesn't appear to be all that fat. I had to take a second look at it to verify it was in fact a rosea and not venosa:

Here's a S. rosea from Mobile Co, AL-look at how fat the lip is in the middle trap, and on the same plant, the lip is "thinner" on the trap in the background. In any case, this is unmistakably a rosea:

Edited August 14, 2013 by meizwang