Sarracenia psittacina in the wild, Bay Co, FL 2014

[meizwang]

This post is actually from 2 separate sites in Bay Co, FL. The very first site contains S. leucophylla and S. flava var. rugelii as well, and the second site is pure S. psittacina.

Unfortunately, both sites are the result of disturbed or altered land, so they are not the natural, pristine habitats that you see in many of the posts below. The good news is if no herbicide is ever sprayed, these plants will likely persist for a very long time.

This very first site is kept in check by an easement where no building is allowed. The grass also seems to be mowed frequently. I found a gigantic S. psittacina growing in the shade at this site, but it was a bit dangerous to explore due to the "quicksand" nature of the bog so we ended up not going in deeper. It appeared that these plants originated from a former a nearby field (which is now a non-native pine plantation, surprise-surprise!) and the only plants that survived from the original site were the ones that "leaked" out via creeks and rain. Dried up creeks and ditches were lined with S. psittacina at this site, and they all led to the pine plantation-that's where everything stopped. tire tracks in the mud create ideal habitat for the parrot pitcher plant, and check out the Drosera filiformis:

I think this may have been the giant plant, although it's hard to tell because there's no scale. I can only guess this is the giant plant because the photo was taken in the shade, and this site is mostly full sun:

I love how round the heads are on these particular plants:

We even found a S. x wrigleyana here, and some Utricularia in bloom:

Most of the plants here were regular sized, and they formed perfect little rosettes:

They were quite abundant:

All photos below are from the second site, which has a very similar origin: this is at the edge of a pine plantation! The field was likely a Sarracenia savanna filled with amazing plants and then it was plowed and transformed into a non-native pine plantation. Only plants that survived were the ones that either spilled out of the field and lined this drainage ditch:

On the sides of the ditch were some beautiful specimens:

Notice how these plants look different than the plants at the first site: the heads aren't as round:

Some nice colors here too:

However, there were some round-headed S. psittacinas here too! What's weird is I've seen this same phenomenon in Okaloosa Co, FL where there are "regular" parrot pitcher plants and round headed varieties in the same field. What's also very note-worthy in this photo is check out the substrate: the plants are growing in this grit/sand mixture on the edge of a ditch filled with peat and muck:

And last but not least, a S. psittacina flowering at the end of August! Heat stress is linked to anomalous flowering, and I've seen every species within the genus do this. Flower primordia is formed during the summertime, but plant hormones keep them from bolting out during the fall. Extreme heat "neutralizes" the inhibiting hormones: