Carnivorous Plant Clone Wiki
Awaiting Mike's review. This entry was AI-extracted from forum posts. Treat specifics as a working draft until reviewed.

sarracenia psittacina var. okefenokeensis

Sarracenia psittacina var. okefenokeensis 'Large Red' Calhoun Co, FL

Calhoun Co, FL

First described
2012
Into cultivation
1997

A genuine giant S. psittacina var. okefenokeensis — the largest parrot-pitcher Mike has ever seen, in cultivation or in the wild — from a now-extirpated Calhoun Co, FL population. Grown out from seed sown in 1997, photodocumented from 2012 to 2019.

Origin

S. psittacina var. okefenokeensis from Calhoun County, FL. Mike's plant was grown from seed sown in 1997 (Mike found the original tag on the mother plant in 2019). The wild source population is now extinct, destroyed approximately 2004 by Mike's recollection ([VERIFY]).

The original wild collector and exact wild-collection date are [MISSING]. The 1997 sowing date is the earliest verifiable data point.

History

  • 1997: Seed sown by Mike (per the original tag he later re-discovered in 2019).
  • ~2004: Wild source population in Calhoun Co, FL destroyed ([VERIFY]). The clone now represents one of the few surviving representatives of that population.
  • 2012-06-04 (post 1): First forum documentation. Mike: "this giant S. psittacina is from Calhoun County, FL and is already producing gigantic spring pitchers. Last year, it didn't even come close to doing anything like this!"
  • 2012-08-03 (post 3): US-quarter scale shot showing pitcher heads.
  • 2012-10-05 (post 4): Side-by-side with a regular adult psittacina for scale. Mike confirms taxonomic placement as var. okefenokeensis.
  • 2013-10-03 (post 9): Even bigger this year. Mike — "I've never seen anything this gigantic, even in the wild!"
  • 2013-10-03 (post 11): Mike's gigantism hypothesis: lack of flowering + media-replacement-every-other-year keeps the plant building momentum.
  • 2014-2015: Continued size gain. Forum members (davidgreen, others) acquire divisions from Mike.
  • 2019-03-25 (post 21): Mike re-photographs the plant alongside the Santa Rosa Co, FL giant okee for comparison. Re-discovers the 1997 tag on the mother plant.

Standout traits

  • Largest psittacina Mike has ever seen — wild or in cultivation.
  • Disproportionately large pitcher heads.
  • Persistent non-flowering at largest size. Smaller divisions flower normally; the largest plants do not. Mike correlates this with the gigantism.
  • Population extinct in the wild. This clone has conservation significance.

Cultivation notes

  • Replace media every other year. Mike's culture for maintaining momentum.
  • Avoid forcing the largest plant to divide too aggressively — small divisions tend to flower, and Mike correlates flowering with smaller-trap years.
  • Standard psittacina culture otherwise. Late dormancy onset (early November in Mike's Bay Area culture is normal).

Photos

See gallery below — 22 Mike-photos spanning 2012 through 2019.

Standout traits

  • Genuine giant psittacina — Mike (2013-10-03): 'I've never seen anything this gigantic, even in the wild!'
  • Heads (pitcher hood) proportionally enormous — US-quarter scale photo (2012-08) shows just how oversized the heads are
  • Has not flowered for years despite being flowering-sized — Mike speculates this contributes to gigantism (energy not diverted to flowering)
  • Smaller divisions of the same clone DO flower; only the large established plants stop flowering
  • Documented continuously gaining size year over year under Mike's culture
  • Genuine S. psittacina var. okefenokeensis
  • Source population extirpated in the wild — Mike believes destroyed ~2004 [VERIFY]

Cultivation

Mike's regimen for keeping this plant gigantic (post 11, 2013):

  • Replace the media every other year or so — keeps the roots happy, which in Mike's view is what allows momentum-building year-over-year growth.
  • Don't divide the largest growth points if you want maximum size — Mike's smaller divisions flowered (which he correlates with smaller traps). Keeping the plant intact and unflowering seems associated with continued size gain.
  • Regular psittacina culture otherwise. Late dormancy onset is typical of psittacina generally.

Photos (23)

'large red' Calhoun (plant front-right, with US quarter for scale) — earliest forum photo, 2011-12-04 (thread 39).— Mike Wang
'Large Red', spring 2012 — first forum documentation— Mike Wang
'Large Red', spring 2012— Mike Wang
'Large Red', spring 2012— Mike Wang
'Large Red', spring 2012— Mike Wang
'Large Red' with US quarter for scale, 2012-08-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2012-08-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2012-08-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2012-08-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2012-08-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red' (left & right pots) flanking a regular adult psittacina (center) for scale, 2012-10-05— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2012-10-05 — 'pretty massive, but it can get a lot bigger than this'— Mike Wang
'Large Red' with thumb for scale, 2012-10-05— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2012-10-05— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2012-10-05— Mike Wang
Two giant 'Large Red' plants in foreground, 2012-10-05— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2013-10-03 — even bigger than 2012; 'I've never seen anything this gigantic, even in the wild'— Mike Wang
'Large Red' with cell phone for scale, 2013-10-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2013-10-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red' next to a huge 'regular sized' S. psittacina for scale, 2013-10-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red', 2013-10-03— Mike Wang
'Large Red' (right pot) alongside Santa Rosa Co, FL okee giant (left pot), 2019-03-25— Mike Wang
'Large Red' last-season traps, photographed 2019-03-25— Mike Wang

Naming

Mike's informal 'Large Red' label, descriptive of the clone's two defining traits: unusual large pitcher size and dark red coloration on aged traps. Mike also refers to the clone with the formal taxonomic placement *S. psittacina* var. *okefenokeensis* (post 4, 2012-10-06).