FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

It's been a bit cold at my house lately (last night's temperature dropped to 27 F / -3 C), and my plants have noticed. One of my Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa plants is living up to its common name of purple pitcher plant. During the summer, the top 1/3 of this plant is dark red; the rest of it is green with a few red veins. The colder my weather got, the darker the plant got.

From what I've read, anthocyanins improve the leaves' ability to tolerate low temperatures and also increase antioxidant levels, which improves photosynthesis efficiency.

OK prepare for a bit of biology - and a touch of physics

During the summer light is perpendicular or (roughly) so the photons are able to strike the chlorophyll head on instead of travelling at a more oblique angle and thus losing a little energy as heat (the speed of light remains constant, however, due to the particle-wave duality of light).

Carotenoids (accessory pigments) allow more of the sun's energy to be captured, which is necessary in the winter as plants begin to have less sunlight.

Anthocyanins do improve ability to tolerate low temperatures, and the genes regulating this are switched on by the cold, due to a hormonal pathway in plants involving abscissin and cytokinin.

Furthermore, ABA (abscissic hormone) shares a common biosynthetic pathway with carotenoids, which is why leaves turn red prior to abscissing, so that happens too.

Those are some nice pitchers! How long did it take before your plant got that big?

Eventerminator wrote: ↑Sun Dec 20, 2020 2:47 amThose are some nice pitchers! How long did it take before your plant got that big?

I bought the plant just a few months ago. Based on the size, I estimate that it's at least 4 or 5 years old.

I had to look this one up:

abscission, noun: (botany) The natural separation of a part at a predetermined location, such as a leaf at the base of the petiole.

Yes. So if you really want to confuse folks, you can refer to autumn as "Abscission season" or "the Great Abscission." heh