Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea 'Waccamaw'

Origin

A Carolinas-origin red flava with one of the best-documented import histories of any cultivation Sarracenia. Mike Wang (post #1, 2012) calls it "by far the best clone of S. flava var. atropurpurea I've ever seen."

The plant in cultivation today comes via New Zealand, where it has been grown continuously since at least the 1980s (likely earlier). kiwiearl (post #5, 2012) supplied Mike's plant from his own NZ lineage, which traces:

1. Christchurch Botanic Gardens — original USA import as a live wild specimen (~1960s/1970s [VERIFY]).
2. ~1980s: passed to a private grower when the gardens stopped cultivating Sarracenia.
3. 1987: acquired by D. Gray.
4. Maintained pure since import; only three subsequent owners (Gray + two others including kiwiearl).

Variety designation — long-running debate

A substantial discussion in 2012 (post #5) and 2020 (posts #34-43) debates whether 'Waccamaw' is properly var. atropurpurea, var. cuprea, or something else (e.g. cuprea × atropurpurea hybrid). See variety_designation_debate in the frontmatter for the position summary. The thread does NOT reach consensus; the practical horticultural consensus is to keep "var. atropurpurea" as the cultivar's name regardless of taxonomic minutiae.

Mike's pragmatic position (post #36, 2020): the official atropurpurea description is "bogus" because the variety doesn't breed true and color expression varies dramatically by environment. He defines atropurpurea horticulturally as any wild-source flava that can turn solid red head-to-toe (excluding interior mouth).

A secondary line of evidence (Mike, thread 345 post #16, 2018): Waccamaw selfed produced cuprea offspring — independent support for the Carolina-coast genetic complexity hcarlton, kiwiearl, and alexis describe.

History

• 1960s/1970s [VERIFY]: Christchurch Botanic Gardens imports the plant as a live specimen from the USA.
• 1980s: Christchurch ceases Sarracenia cultivation; clone passes to a private NZ grower.
• 1987: D. Gray acquires the plant.
• 2012-08-20 (post #1): Mike posts the clone after receiving it from kiwiearl.
• 2012-08-23 (kiwiearl, post #5): full provenance + variety- designation argument.
• 2014-2017: clone spreads in cultivation through Mike's sales (adaetz100 (post #18, 2017 acquisition), and others).
• 2020-04 → 2020-10: Mike's annual updates plus the most intense variety-debate phase of the thread.
• 2021-07-13 (post #48): uncommon reddish-throat phenotype documented.
• 2022-05 (post #50): comparison with super-dark Okaloosa Co FL atropurpurea.
• 2024-2026: continued widespread cultivation and updates.

Standout traits

• Solid red exterior, green interior (interior eventually infuses red as traps mature).
• Large, upturned lid — the calen-noted "elegant" shape.
• Vigorous clumping habit — fills 3-gallon pots in a few seasons.
• Coppery-lid post-division phenotype — the cuprea-lookalike state that resolves as energy returns.
• Atypical post-division coloring — colors up even on recent divisions, unusual for atropurpureas (Mike, post #54, 2022).
• Heavy flowering — 70+ flowers in mature clumps.

Cultivation notes

• Soil: 100% pure peat for best red expression. No perlite or amendments. Refresh every few years.
• Repotting timing: winter; first season may be off-color but second is typically full.
• Acidity maintenance: live sphagnum juice is more acidic than peat (victwei, 2021) — a possible pH-rejuvenation tactic for older substrates.
• Don't panic on coppery divisions: the cuprea-lookalike phase is normal post-division behavior.

Photos

40 photos — Mike's gallery spans 2012-08 → 2026-04, with one adaetz100 contribution (2020) and one almightydolla contribution (fall 2022) included from threaded follow-ups.