Carnivorous Plant Newsletter
Volume 43, Number 3, September 2014, pages 106 - 107

New Cultivars

Sarracenia ‘Randy Rable’
Sarracenia ‘Laughing Wizard’

Sarracenia ‘Randy Rable’

Submitted: 24 June 2014

This hybrid is of unknown ancestry but I suspect Sarracenia minor and perhaps S. rubra subsp. gulfensis to be in its heritage.

Maximum pitcher height is 35 cm but it may get a bit taller. The pitcher tubes are green in the lower part, widening gradually to 3 cm wide at the mouth. The peristome or lip is very narrow, V-shaped and spouted, turning deep red. The broad lid covers the mouth opening almost entirely. Veining intensifies in the upper part of the pitcher to a bronzy brick red, with greenish areoles on the upper back of the pitcher. The underside of the lid is predominantly red in its forward parts. The flower is small with yellow petals that have an orange blush (Fig. 1).

I am naming this plant after a dear friend who passed away much too early in life. Randy was a lover of plants and gardens and motion pictures, and I miss our conversations about these subjects very much. His sister, Charmaine, worked at California Carnivores for several years in the 1990s.

Sarracenia ‘Randy Rable’ must be reproduced vegetatively to preserve the characteristics of the cultivar.

—Peter D’Amato • California Carnivores • 2833 Old Gravenstein Hwy • Sebastopol, CA 95472 • califcarn@aol.com

Figure 1: Sarracenia ‘Randy Rable’.

Sarracenia ‘Laughing Wizard’

Submitted: 25 June 2014

Sarracenia ‘Laughing Wizard’ resulted from a batch of seed that I received about five years ago from an unknown grower. The seed parent was S. alata “Rayburn County” and the pollen parent was S. flava ‘Claret’.

Early in the growing season, the pitcher is all red except for a yellow/green lid that has a distinctive pointed curl at its peak. There is a large neck between the lip and the base of the lid. As the year progresses, the lid develops a deep red color with heavy veins. The pitcher mouth is oval, which gives it the laughing appearance, and the throat gets very dark – making the pitcher look like it's wearing a pointy wizard hat (Fig. 2).

The main features of the plant are the deep red body of the pitcher, dark throat, dark oval lip which looks like it's laughing, and the heavily veined wizard hat shaped lid which curls up to a point.

Sarracenia ‘Laughing Wizard’ was named on 12 June 2014 due to the wizard hat appearance of the lid and the mouth shape of the pitcher lip that makes the plant look like it is laughing.

Sarracenia ‘Laughing Wizard’ must be reproduced vegetatively to preserve the characteristics of the cultivar.

—Matthew Hutley • Essex • UK

Figure 2: Sarracenia ‘Laughing Wizard’.