Pitcher plant portrait:
Pretty, ain't it? Contrast
this plant with the other
S. purpurea specimen in this slide show.
Look at that superb red veining on both inner and outer pitcher surfaces.
The hood is relatively large on this photograph, too. You can even see
the outer surface pubescence on the right margin of the pitcher tube, just
below the hood (see the whitish fringe?). There is plenty of
S. purpurea subsp. venosa in this plant.
Dave and I have spent some time talking about this species. Frankly,
delineating the species into
two subspecies (plus the localized populations like
S. purpurea var. montana or
S. purpurea var. burkii) just doesn't seem to do the plant
scientific justice. We do not have a replacement theory, but this field
trip left me scratching my head. This little plant is confusing.
