> 1)If you are having this problem do you see aphids?
Aphids can and do cause serious deformations in pitchers. The usual
symptom is curling in at the point where the aphid sucks plant juices.
All it takes is one or two aphids on a newly-emerging pitcher to
completely deform it. I watch my plants like a hawk in the spring and
spray often with insecticidal soap. Since S. rubra and S. oreophila are
among the first to emerge, they usually are developing at the height of
the spring aphid season and are more vulnerable. Other species seem less
vulnerable, maybe because they are less attractive to them but also
because they are later to pitcher and tend to escape.
> 2a)Is S. oreophila a good looking plant?
Yes, when the aphids don't get it, it is very similar to S. flava, and
there are heavily veined and lightly-veined forms.
> 3)What can cause a plant (S. x catesbei x oreophila) to be
> asymetrical? The petals on one of the flowers is split to
> the right of center other flower has an extra stigma right
> under a petal.
This sounds like a flower mutation; nothing really to worry about, it
just happens sometimes. I have heard of a virus that causes serious
flower deformation however.
The leaves are odd too, one side is always
> smaller than the other so that you could pick 2 leaves that
> are mirror images of each other but if cut down the midrib
> each half is not a mirror image of the other.
I notice this quite often in S. oreophila, usually on the first leaves to
emerge in the spring. (Well, I mean the first of the flush, as S.
oreophila tends to have just one flush of new leaves for the season).
The smaller leaves also tend to be more symmetrical and the larger ones
are more likely to be a little "off." I don't worry much about it. But
the aphids are a pain.
bob