sarracenia alata

Sarracenia alata 'DARK' Stone Co, MS

Stone Co, MS

First described: 2018

A Stone Co, MS alata selected (from grow-out of thousands of seedlings) for stable dark-pigment expression. Fresh fall pitchers start reddish and deepen to dark purplish/blackish as they age; black band develops below the mouth; black veins on lid. Reliable across multiple years where most "dark" selections from Mike's grow-out failed to repeat. 20 Mike photos (2018-2024).

Standout traits

Freshly-opened fall pitchers start reddish, deepen to dark purplish/blackish as they age
Fall traps last unusually long; can hang on into mid-winter
Black veins on lid
Black-pigment band develops below the mouth as traps age
Rarely colors up in summer — fall is when expression peaks
Greenhouse-suntan environments produce extreme expression more reliably than NorCal outdoors

Cultivation

Color expression year-by-year is unreliable outdoors — select+cull strategy required when growing many plants from seed (Mike narrowed thousands of seedlings down to ~12 via multi-year evaluation).
Late-fall, high-light + cool-night conditions trigger best expression.

Photos (20)

alata DARK, 2018-09-17 — newly-opened fall pitcher— Mike Wang

alata DARK, 2018-09-17 — black veins on lid— Mike Wang

alata DARK, 2019-01-10 — late-fall traps still hanging on— Mike Wang

alata DARK, 2019-02-11 — DARRRRRRK!— Mike Wang

alata DARK, 2019-02-11 — black band below mouth— Mike Wang

alata DARK, 2020-08-16 — pre-color-up baseline— Mike Wang

Naming

Mike's working label — describes the dark-pigmented expression of this Stone Co, MS alata. Selected from Mike's grow-out of thousands of alatas — only a few proved themselves dark-color- form-worthy across multiple years (some colored up the first year and never again).