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 rosea

Sarracenia rosea 'Big Mama' (Phil Faulisi / Don Elkins source)

First described
2013
Type
single clone faulisi elkins source

Origin

A giant rosea clone passed via Phil Faulisi and Don Elkins. Mike acquired a piece by 2013. Wild-source provenance unknown.

The thread is one of the wiki's clearer cases of name-drift in cultivation: Mike's initial 2013 post mis-identified a Jerry Addington Carolina-source rosea (received from Lee's Botanical or Orgels nurseries) as Big Mama; Rob Co (sarraceniadude) of the Pitcher Plant Project corrected the record. Even Mike (post #15, 2013) caveats that he's not 100% certain of his own clone's identity at that point.

Mike (post #9, 2013): "I think the real question is do we call any gigantic 'rosea dominant' plant 'big mama' or is it just one clone? If we just label one clone big mama, what do we call the rest of them? It's a pretty messy situation in my opinion."

History

  • Pre-2013: Phil Faulisi + Don Elkins source clone in cultivation.
  • 2013-04: Mike acquires a piece. First forum thread; with attribution confusion that gets corrected mid-thread.
  • 2013-07 → 2013-08: peak summer documentation of the presumed-Faulisi/Elkins clone.
  • Pre-2021: Mike's original mother plant rotted out; clone lost from his collection.
  • 2021: Rob Co re-supplies a division.
  • ~2023: Near-loss to freeze damage; recovered.
  • 2025-02: Mike posts the recovery + bulbous-form update.

Standout traits

  • Gigantic rosea pitchers — among the largest in cultivation.
  • Sweet large flowers.
  • Late-summer / early fall peak.
  • Bulbous form in some grow conditions.

Cultivation notes

Easy when happy; rot-vulnerable when not. Mike's prior near-total loss suggests dividing for security and growing redundant back-divisions in different conditions / locations.

Photos

12 Mike-Wang photos spanning 2013-04 → 2025-02. Note: post #2452's photo is not Big Mama itself (it's the Jerry-Addington Carolina #2 that was originally mis-IDed as Big Mama).

Standout traits

  • Gigantic pitchers — among the largest rosea expressions in cultivation
  • Sweet-smelling flowers slightly larger than 'normal' rosea (Mike, post #1, 2013)
  • Best display in late summer / early fall — characteristic rosea timing (Mike, post #13, 2013)
  • Bulbous form — can express more bulbous in different growers' conditions (Mike, post #16, 2025)
  • Mother plant of multiple giant rosea-dominant hybrids in the Mike-Wang ecosystem (Mike, post #16, 2025)

Cultivation

  • Easy to grow but easy to lose: Mike's signature self-contradictory observation. Vigorous when healthy but rot-vulnerable.
  • Late summer / early fall is the peak display window.
  • Vigorous flowering: large sweet-fragrant flowers.

Photos (12)

Jerry Addington's flowering 'Carolina #2' rosea (initially mis-IDed as Big Mama by Mike, corrected by Rob Co). April 2013.— Mike Wang
rosea 'Big Mama' (Faulisi / Elkins source), late June 2013.— Mike Wang
Late June 2013.— Mike Wang
Late June 2013.— Mike Wang
Early August 2013 — Mike believes this is the Faulisi/Elkins clone.— Mike Wang
Early August 2013.— Mike Wang
Early August 2013.— Mike Wang
Early August 2013.— Mike Wang
Early August 2013.— Mike Wang
Recovered from Rob Co (Pitcher Plant Project), 12 February 2025.— Mike Wang
More bulbous in Mike's current growing conditions, 12 February 2025.— Mike Wang
12 February 2025.— Mike Wang

Naming

"Big Mama" — informal cultivar name applied to a giant rosea clone passed via Phil Faulisi and Don Elkins. Original source unknown to the forum's reviewers. Mike's nomenclature reservation (post #9, 2013): is "Big Mama" a single clone or any rosea-dominant giant? "It's a pretty messy situation in my opinion."