Are these actually stems or the vertical rhizome rising above the
soil surface? I ask because my purps seem to rise over the course
of a year or two until they are quite wobbly and have to be banked
up with fresh peat, but as best as I can remember, the pitchers are
growing from typical rhizome with a gnarled surface like ginger,
rather than a stem. I've never had an internodal distance of more
than a few mm, or a total height of more than 5 or 6 cm though (but
perhaps if I left them to keep on growing like that...)
The mechanisms that enable roots to penetrate soil rather than lifting
the plant up out of it (Newton's 3rd law of motion makes this rather
trickier than is immediately apparent,) are quite complicated and
rely on microhairs anchoring the plant's roots with a surprising
degree of force while the root tips forcibly displace soil as they
grow. Perhaps the very wet and peaty compost we use is not as well
adapted to this as drier, firmer composts when contained in
comparatively small pots. Especially in the case of a species
attempting to force a comparatively huge vertical rhizome into the
soil.
Just a thought that's been bugging me awhile - if S. purpurea rhizomes
grow vertically and S. flava rhizomes grow horizontally, do S. X
catesbaei rhizomes grow diagonally? I guess it depends on the
genetic factors controlling geotropism...?
Happy growing,
Peter
snail:Peter Cole,17 Wimmerfield Cr. :mailto:carnivor@bunyip.demon.co.uk
Killay, SWANSEA SA2 7BU, WALES :http://www.angel.co.uk/flytrap/index.htm
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