Pinguicula moranensis - Two Variable Sites from Oaxaca, Mexico

BAREFOOT BOYS MEXICAN TRIP N° 7

By Noah Elhardt and Forbes Conrad, 2006

All pictures by Noah Elhardt and Forbes Conrad

P. moranensis never ceases to amaze me with its high variability in flower colour and morphology, even within a single site! These two sites were no exception.

Site 1 (between rain showers):

Plants just coming out of dormancy:

Site 2

The second site was in the same cloud as the P. conzattii we visited:

I was browsing around when I spotted a P. moranensis with a large, hot pink flower.

The next flowering plant I saw, perhaps a meter away, had this flower (a darker purple than came out in this picture):

A comparison of the spurs is also interesting. The spur of the second plant was narrow, long, and relatively straight :

The first plant had a shorter, fatter, recurved spur. I don’t have a picture of that one uploaded, but it was similar (though perhaps shorter and more recurved) to this intermediate growing nearby:

Any thoughts on P. moranensis variability?

Cheers,

Noah Elhardt and Forbes Conrad