We call that plant Tates ####, because thats where a type like it comes from.
Mike King has a really good website and has the best Sarracenia I have ever seen in the UK as regards to color and form, which is harder to achieve in the UK or any more northern latitudes.
While certainly there are some more vigorous types of plants per species I think the thing gets a bit ridiculous.
If you take any Sarracenia fruit and cultivate the seed you will certainly see a plethora of different types of offspring. Not totally different than a couple having a child with different colored eyes & hair then both parents.
I can sow 250 seed from a red S. flava, the results range from pitcher shape & form to color, from veined to red.
We fail to remember the most important things in coloration and form with regards to plants. This is simple, where are we growing them and how.
A S. leucophylla with good "pinks or reds" growing in full sun in northern Florida will always look different than one growing in fun sun in Michigan. Also pitchers will be somewhat different. Water intake, & humidity plays a role too. Never expect a plant to look exactly like what you see somewhere else..it won't, it can't.
This goes for tissue cultured plants as well. The age of the culture, and health will cause different cultures to look a little different. Tissue cultured plants from seed are pot luck as to outcome, but not clones such as a few Sarracenia now produced.
It is true general tendencies hold, such as with the plant posted by Richard in the UK of the S. leucophylla.
Remember, if your conditions are not prime you may not see the samething.
It often occurs someone will request a plant, say a N. ampullaria with a red peristome. I provide one and it arrives with such, but they cannot offer as much light regardless of how good a setup they have. N. ampullaria a low light plant but tolerates very bright light with time. It never will produce a very red peristome under their growing conditions, and they may be growing the plant in great conditions.
When selecting a plant of course coloration is important, but often not considered is the vigor and growth rate. It should be.
Somone commented to me that their all red form of S. flava only produced one leaf a year, that is too slow.
It is common for plants grown in strong light to be more compact, with smaller pitchers, and slower growth rate. Also it is common with darkly colored plants to be less vigorous, weak. But maybe if they could bump up the temperature the plant would grow faster?
A sure way to get a very red S. leucophylla is to cross it with a S. rubra gulfensis, these plants almost always retain dark red tops and look true to form with S. leucophylla. As well a red S. flava crossed with a S. leucophylla will generally be a vigorous stunning S. leucophylla.
Take care,
Mike
St. Petersburg Florida
