Sarracenia rosea with Rob Naczi

I was delighted to hear from the esteemed Rob Naczi, Curator of North American Botany at the New York Botanical Garden. He is well known for his expertise in Cyperaceae and Sarraceniaceae, two plant families I also love!

Rob reached out a few weeks ago to ask for field assistance in finding plants he and his graduate student, Sergio Guzman, needed for their research. Sergio is working on the phylogeny and biogeography of Sarraceniaceae - the Pitcherplant family.

Phylogeny is the mapping of the evolutionary development and diversification of the species, and biogeography is the study of the past and present patterns of places where these plants are distributed. As Rob states, “The current state of knowledge of Sarracenia makes it clear that much additional work is necessary to understand the history of the genus and relationships among its species.” Collecting specimens and genetic samples of Sarracenia species from numerous wild populations is necessary for this work, and Rob needed help finding them. That’s where FNPS stepped in!

I joined Rob and Sergio in the field for two days to help them find the plants they needed; Sarracenia flava, S. minor, S. psittacina, S. rosea, and the many hybrids between these species.

I was especially excited to see our Sarracenia rosea with THE Rob Naczi. Previously, our Rose Pitcherplant, Sarracenia rosea, was not distinguished from the northern Purple Pitcherplant, Sarracenia purpurea. They were all lumped into one species despite their many morphological and distributional differences. Rob was the first to argue and publish evidence to show that our Sarracenia rosea was a distinct species! The naturally occurring hybrid between S. rosea and S. flava was named S. x naczii in acknowledgment of his contribution.

Collaboration is key to successful conservation, and taxonomy (the branch of science concerned with the classification of organisms) is an essential component of conservation, so FNPS was happy to help out with this critical work!

- Lilly Anderson-Messec, FNPS Director of North Florida Programs