Expanded hoods:
I had seen Sarracenia purpurea var. montana only once before,
and that was on a Georgia trip led by Ron Determann of Atlanta Botanical Gardens (see Rice, 2003b). I was intrigued that
the hoods of the pitchers were not tightly closed. Supposedly (from the original article describing
the taxon), one of the features that characterizes Sarracenia purpurea var. montana is that the lobes
of the pitcher hood wrap around and nearly touch in front, as if the plant were guarding the pitcher contents. I looked
forward to seeing more mountain Sarracenia purpurea on this trip to see for myself what they looked like.
Interestingly, these plants did not have the tightly wrapped hood lobes.
This photograph was taken in full, burning sun, but Mandy was kind enough to hold my big photo-diffuser1 in place to soften
the light.
1Imagine a cube constructed from pvc pipes, with a partially clear shower curtain clipped onto it.
