Sarracenia leucophylla 'RED' Washington Co, AL

[meizwang]

Red variants of S. leucophylla from Washington County Alabama are almost unheard of and are extremely rare, but they do exist.  To recap, I suspect the red pigments in S. leucophylla originated from hybridizing with other species and then back-crossing with lecuophylla several generations to the point that you can't tell it was originally of hybrid origin.  In Santa Rosa and okaloosa Co, FL leucophylla crossed mainly with flavas and roseas to get the red pigments.  On the other hand, I suspect the washington Co, AL leucophyllas crossed with alata and rubra wherryi to get these red pigments!  This makes them very genetically unique.

Normally, the red pigments are found concentrated below the white on the petiole, which gives a strong contrasting look (ie. red plants from Walton Co, FL, Franklin Co, FL, Okaloosa Co, FL, Covington Co, AL variants).  In some cases, the whole pitcher becomes reddish as the trap ages.

On the other hand, freshly opened pitchers on the Washington Co, AL have red that is suffused with the white and just below the white pigments on the petiole!  If I had to guess, rubra wherryi is the reason you see this difference.  Photos taken 10/5/16:

This thing has a really FAT lip too, almost looks kinda like a nepenthes peristome without the "lines":

The kink in the trap is environmental:

The spring traps were much redder, but I think I transplanted it in early summer so the adjustment caused this plant to not be as red. it'll be interesting to see what the traps look like next spring.