Re: S. purpurea Subspecies

From: Dave Evans (dpevans@rci.rutgers.edu)
Date: Thu Aug 10 2000 - 19:15:43 PDT


Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 22:15:43 -0400
From: "Dave Evans" <dpevans@rci.rutgers.edu>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg2444$foo@default>
Subject: Re: S. purpurea Subspecies


> This weekend I'm going to visit a bog in the NJ Pine barrens. I have read
> that this is where the two S purpurea subspecies meet in terms of their
> range. I would like to know if there is a way to tell the difference
between
> the two, S.p. ssp. pupurea and S.p. ssp. venosa. I would like to observe
and
> perhaps take photographs of both of them but I want to know how to tell
the
> difference first. Is there a certain characteristic that one plant has
that
> the other doesn't?

    I have been looking at pitcher plants all over New Jersey for years, and
I do not see any reliable differences. If you want to see _S. purpurea
purpurea_, I suggest trying Indiana or Michigan... The New Jersey plants
from the Pine Barrens all seen very similar too me, the differences I
noticed appeared to be caused by environmental differences. The plants
growing in North Jersey are different, somewhat, but I would hesitate to
call them _S. purpurea purpurea_...
    I think S. purpurea is more complicated than it's given credit for.

Dave Evans



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