> > From: TracieW502@AOL.COM
> >
> >
> > Anyway,, we just had a torrential rain here in GA where I live as a
> > storm system passed over.. S. purpurea was outside, and the traps
> > filled and over filled with rain water. I noticed at this time
> > (well, took a closer look actually) that the way that the traps are
> > positioned and the size of the opening, it appears that the plant is
> > actually designed to catch rain water... Look at yours if you have
> > one...
This is definitely true. The traps secrete no water on their own (well,
not enough to keep up with evaporation). I have seen lots of S. purpurea
in Minnesota in the bogs, and the traps were almost always bone dry,
except after rains. Since their trapping depends on the water bath,
unlike the other types, catching rain would seem to be prerequisite.
> I think this might have something to do with why S purpurea is so
> successful, meaning that it's the least likely to extinct.
I believe it has to do more with its tolerance for temperature extremes.
Because
> it catches way more rain than any others would this not allow it to
> survive dry spells better and drier conditions? I have seen purps
> living in NJ Pine Barrens pretty far from the water's edge even beyond
> the sphagnum.
Actually many of the others can take some dryness too; especially S.
oreophila, which at the first drought, loses all its pitchers and just
has the flat leaves. This happened once to mine when I went on vacation
and the woman who was to water my plants had "other things to do" and let
them all go dry for over a week in July. I didn't lose any plants, even
thought the moss was really dry; some of the pitchers had withered and
the plants were set back a little, but S. orephila's pitchers were
completely dried up. Yet this plant came back with a vengeance in the
Spring. It deals with regular drought in its native habitat.
Bob