Pitcher portrait:
I like taking portraits of pitcher plants. This one
has very bold veins on the hood and pitcher body. It also has a very interesting red, hairless zone on the base
of the pitcher hood, just above the digestive fluid level. This red band is essentially the same feature
exhibited on the pitcher column of S. flava var. rugelii, or under the lid of "cut-throat"
S. alata.
Look again at the beautiful venation on the hood. It pattern reminds me of a bald cypress tree in the winter.
I have said it before....the northern subspecies of Sarracenia purpurea is underappreciated
by carnivorous plant growers.
Even though I have nice things to say about these plants,
I will admit that my heart was not into taking these photographs. I was aching to take better images of the
Utricularia geminiscapa. When was I likely to see that plant again? I knew that my photographs, shooting down into
the water, would be plagued by glare spots from the sky. The best way to photograph them would be to shoot
through the wall of my little 4-liter aquarium, but that equipment was currently on the wrong side of the continent. Dang!
While I was finishing with this pitcher plant,
Beth (again one step ahead of me) found something of interest. Here is a hint--do you see
a little scraggly brown twiggy thing just above the reddish Sphagnum rosette at the top-left of the photograph?
That is a flower stalk...a flower stalk of a... (hurry, click to the next page!)
