June 2015 CPN: Some Familiar Topics

June 2015 Carnivorous Plant Newsletter

I finally got around to reading the June 2015 Carnivorous Plant Newletter, the Journal of the International Carnivorous Plant Society, and I have to say that some topics seemed familiar.

Pinguicula hirtiflora var. hirtiflora
Credit: David Govatski

I was particularly interested in the article by Andreas Fleischmann on the Pinguicula crystallina/hirtiflora-complex largely due to my previous post about Pinguicula hirtiflora. The article reexamines this complex and re-divides it into the following:

• P. crystallina (2n = 28) - The shape of the corolla, length of the tubular part of hte corolla, and size of the spur differ from P. hirtiflora.
• P. megaspilaea (2n = 56 (probably)) - Formerly P. hirtiflora var. megaspilaea. It produces long, upright leaves with reflexed margins during summer growth.
• P. hirtiflora var. louisii.
• P. hirtiflora var. hirtiflora (2n = 28).

Strangely, no mention of P. hirtiflora var. gionae was made (unless I missed it). This variety was discussed at length in the 2007 article that previously defined the Pinguicula hirtiflora complex. I'm not sure why this variety was omitted.

Darlingtonia

There was also an article by Damion Collinsworth speculating that bears distribute Darlingtonia. This theory is premised on the idea that bears are the best mechanism of transport for the Darlingtonia seeds which have features strongly indicative of animal transport. My guess is that Damion is correct about the animal transport part of the seeds, I'm not convinced that bears are the primary dispersal mechanism. It seems more likely that a wide variety of animals could provide a ride to Darlingtonia seeds.

Lastly, I'll mention the redefinition of the Sarracenia genus. That was something I covered back in March and incorporated into Cultivating Carnivorous Plants. I really don't think that there's too much more do say about it, except that we'll have to wait for a bit of further clarification on the Sarracenia rubra complex.