Planting seeds of rare plants sounds like a good-intentioned idea. But
I wonder if there may be some problems with it. Barry told me that he
knows a CP grower who has been trying to introduce CP to Arizona, without
any success :-) A person could though, introduce some of the
aquatic Utricularia to some of Arizona's mountain lakes, such as around
Flagstaff, where U. macrorhiza already grows. I think U. gibba, U. minor,
and perhaps U. geminiscapa, U. radiata, U. purpurea, and U. intermedia
would stand a chance of naturalizing in these areas. None of these are
native to the state, but all of them, especially the first two, could
arrive natually as seeds stuck to waterfowl. Perhaps this is how
U. macrorhiza arrived. (some say U. minor is already in AZ).
Obviously it would be inadvisable to introduce endemic Asian or Australian
CP to the USA. We have plenty of examples of exotic plants introduced
because they "look pretty", but they turn out to be noxious weeds when
escaped in a new habitat. Planting plants which are not native to an
area, but COULD arrive there naturally--that is a tough call, and I would
not do it myself. There may be some other plant or animal thriving in a
Sarracenia-lacking locality, specifically BECAUSE Sarracenia is not present.
Ok, sites lacking Sarracenia are pretty common :-( But what about sites
suitable for Sarracenia which have existed without the pitcher plants, by
some quirk of nature? Is it possible that over the long-term, a plant
like S. flava might outcompete S. minor? Perhaps S. minor is always
slowly "escaping" S. flava... colonizing new sites first, and later being
replaced on those sites by S. flava? I'm not suggesting that this
flava/minor relationship actually takes place, but rather that these kinds
of interactions do take place, and they may require careful study to notice.
If all the S. minor sites were planted with other potentially native
Sarracenia, what would happen?
I know that it's a policy of some conservation programs to introduce
plants into habitats which have no recorded history of the rare plant
occuring there. Preference is given for reintroduction to confirmed old
sites, or at least sites within the historical range of the species.
But this is, to the best of my knowledge, done only after careful study
of the habitat for compatibility.
Michael Chamberland