I do beleive they are talking about the petioles of the leaves.
> 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...)
Actually, rhizomes ARE stems. The only Sarracenia which grows with
it's rhizome under the surface of the soil is S. minor. Most S.purps
grow in living Sphagnum and grow upward as the surface of the Sphagnum
grows up. I doubt you really need to keep adding new soil around the
stem, but if it bothers you...
> 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...?
All the Sarracenia species DO grow diagonally upward, but you
may not see this effect if the plants get moved every couple
years or so.
Dave Evans