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Schnell's Ghost


Jonathan_Creek

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I have aways loved carnivorous plants but it is only recently that I learned a lot more about all the individual species and hybrids. After talking with a friend who is mad on carnivorous plants and doing some research, I became really interested in the plant Schnell's Ghost, something about it just really captured my imagination and I knew it was one I really wanted to collect. I purchased one online, it is the first "pure" sarracenia I got, the rest I had were hybrids at that time (and some of those are really pretty plants too). However I have read that Schnell's Ghost is a clone and that some plants are leucophylla with very little anthrocyanin and yellow flowers. I won't honestly mind what this plant is because it is one of my favourites regardless. I read that Schnell's Ghost is not particularly vigorous however since I got the plant it has been cloned into three separate plants that are all doing very well, as well as a small one that is starting to form pitchers. Either way I really enjoy this plant and hope you like the photos.

Here is the plant when I got it a year ago: 

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And here it is now, the mother plant is the biggest plant in my collection: 

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IMG_2710.thumb.JPG.489c09c8bdbca81a1092ed0abf5c4e03.JPG

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have an identical or very similar plant from PJ Plants labelled leuco. white top. It's a pretty thing. According to the cultivar registration (https://legacy.carnivorousplants.org/cpn/Species/v30n1p11_14.html#ghost), any leuco with a yellow flower and anthocyanins only at the base of the leaf is correctly called 'Schnell's Ghost'. 

 " I am registering the cultivar name Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Schnell’s Ghost’, which should be applied to all clones of the species with yellow flowers and predominantly white coloured lids and upper pitchers. Since seed from self-pollinated individuals of this clone breed true (and presumably between different clones of this cultivar), Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Schnell’s Ghost’ may be propagated both asexually from cuttings and sexually from seed, as long as the cultivar characters are maintained. "

So it is a little unusual in that it is a cultivar, but not a clone - rather any number of clones with the same characteristics. Kinda defeats the purpose of a cultivar to me, but good to know!

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1 hour ago, Greg Seed said:

I have an identical or very similar plant from PJ Plants labelled leuco. white top. It's a pretty thing. According to the cultivar registration (https://legacy.carnivorousplants.org/cpn/Species/v30n1p11_14.html#ghost), any leuco with a yellow flower and anthocyanins only at the base of the leaf is correctly called 'Schnell's Ghost'. 

 " I am registering the cultivar name Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Schnell’s Ghost’, which should be applied to all clones of the species with yellow flowers and predominantly white coloured lids and upper pitchers. Since seed from self-pollinated individuals of this clone breed true (and presumably between different clones of this cultivar), Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Schnell’s Ghost’ may be propagated both asexually from cuttings and sexually from seed, as long as the cultivar characters are maintained. "

So it is a little unusual in that it is a cultivar, but not a clone - rather any number of clones with the same characteristics. Kinda defeats the purpose of a cultivar to me, but good to know!

 

Thanks for the reply! As you say it is rather unusual. I have seen a couple of images of plants called Schnell's Ghost that look very different to this one, but according to this description, they all are. Oh well, I have to say regardless of if this is the original plant or not, it is my first leuco and a favourite of mine :smile: Who knows, maybe if this plant is an original Schnell's Ghost, maybe yours is too. 

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My understanding is that the original 'Schnells Ghost' rotted before it was propagated, so now we have a number of yellow flowered leuco's is called 'Scnells Ghost' but are not the original or necessarily clones of each other. the official description registered at the ICPS https://cpnames.carnivorousplants.org/Cultivars.php?name=Sarracenia is as below.

"This clone has yellow flowers & the pitchers entirely lack red pigment except before they open when flushed with salmon, & when senescing, and intermittentliy & sparsely inside the pitcher a few fine purple veins occur. The lids are 98% white with only a few green veins."

 

Cheers

Steve

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7 hours ago, billynomates666 said:

My understanding is that the original 'Schnells Ghost' rotted before it was propagated, so now we have a number of yellow flowered leuco's is called 'Scnells Ghost' but are not the original or necessarily clones of each other. the official description registered at the ICPS https://cpnames.carnivorousplants.org/Cultivars.php?name=Sarracenia is as below.

"This clone has yellow flowers & the pitchers entirely lack red pigment except before they open when flushed with salmon, & when senescing, and intermittentliy & sparsely inside the pitcher a few fine purple veins occur. The lids are 98% white with only a few green veins."

 

Cheers

Steve

The link you've posted is, I believe, an abstract/synopsis of the full registration that I linked in my previous post - worth checking out if you're interested. Of course it's always so difficult to be sure that any such story is entirely accurate, but it suggests that the original was propagated successfully and distributed under the names "Bednar Clone", "Alba", "Yellow Flower" and "Schnell's Ghost".

21 hours ago, Jonathan_Creek said:

I have to say regardless of if this is the original plant or not, it is my first leuco and a favourite of mine :smile:

I love mine too - this is the most important thing, at the end of the day!

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Thanks both, this is really interesting, makes me wish there was a wikipedia for carnivorous plants with the stories behind them. I have also read that it was thought that Schnell's Ghost had gone extinct but it did survive in collections and is now fairly common in English and American collections. 

Agreed, Greg :) 

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Hi

my understanding is that decades ago antho free, white topped leucos became known in the UK as Schnell's Ghost after Don Schnell (the  revered US CP expert).  It was never a registered cultivar as far as I know.

Dennis

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1 hour ago, dennisB said:

Hi

my understanding is that decades ago antho free, white topped leucos became known in the UK as Schnell's Ghost after Don Schnell (the  revered US CP expert).  It was never a registered cultivar as far as I know.

Dennis

Thanks for the reply Dennis, Schnell's Ghost is certainly very white and lacking in red- though I am not sure Schnell's Ghost is 100% antho free, like the Green Mutant for example, as new growth is a flushed salmon, and the rhizome has a little red, but it just has extremely little red present anywhere so comes across antho free certainly. 

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  • 2 years later...

I have a nice white Sarracenia leucophylla labeled as "Hurricane Creek," but have recently been informed it is a Schnell's Ghost. It is beautiful and seems healthy. There are many "leaves" (pitchers) from a single rhizome with two growth points. I am looking for a source for a few more of these plants. I live in Wisconsin and must keep them in a refrigerator (at  40 degrees), but they all do well when brought out in the spring. 

If anyone who might read this is aware of where I could purchase the Ghost, I would appreciate this information.

Mark A Bauer, MD

 

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