------- Forwarded Message
> This pricked my ears up!
>
> What does an _S. alata_ "black" look like? I'm not familiar with this form
> or this name.
>
> Info (.....seeds????) ........ anyone?
> >>
>
>Rob,
>I don't know if you received any replies to this one and since I'm not an
>'expert', I thought I'd pass... But...
>
>About 10 years ago I met a gentleman by the name of Mr. J.C. Moore from
>Alabama (or Mississippi - I forget!) from some of the CPN articles he had
>written. He volunteered to show me around a bunch of CP sites throughout
>Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida and I gladly accepted his
>offer. The first site we went to in Mississippi had a nice large population
>of S. alata - he called 'Black alata' due to their heavy veining and their
>darker appearance.
>
>Is this where the name originated? I doubt it. Is this even the S. alata
>variety being referred to? Who knows? I'm just now getting some adult plants
>from 8 to 10 year old seed from this field. Although the plants are veined -
>they don't have the darkness I remember (but after 10+ yrs...?).
>
>Good luck in your quest for "Black" alata.
Hello all,
I do know something about the Sarracenia alata "black" mentoned above.
I was first contacted by the late J.C.Moore, Sr. of Mobile, AL in 1984. I
visited him several times in 1985, and we visited several Sarracenia
localities in MS, AL & FL, many of which he discovered. Some of them were
VERY interesting. I have not been back to any of them since-I'd be
interested in which are still extant.
Anyway, the S. alata Black was a name I perhaps coined, after we had seen a
large population in se MS near Wiggins. The populations were
unbelievable-several acreas of uniform stands, on clay soil (95% mineral)
hard as a rock to walk on, with crawfish chimneys galore; the "bogs" were
actually localted on hill, seepage slope terraces, I gues. It was strange
that we had to walk UPHILL to get to the wetlands! The tubes were BLACK,
as black as anything I've seen, with a white chalky coating near the mouth
sometimes. The flowers were about the most beautiful alata flowers I've
seen, rich pale yellow. The plants, alas, did not maintain their black
appearance in cultivation-hence the notion it due to a a soil factor. I
guess someone should try growing them in pure clay-I did not. It's a good
thing we did not attempt to name it as a new form! I would be interested to
how the seedlings perform.
I have seen a similar black form of S. wherryi, which remains black to some
degree in cultivation.
I made some interesting hybrids with the black alata, but I can't quite say
whether a distinctive character is imparted. I do have some very dark red
S. wherryi hybrids.
Regards,
Larry Mellichamp