Splitting Sarracenia alabamensis subsp. wherryi (D.E. Schnell) Case & R.B. Case 2005 into two new species (Sarraceniaceae)
C. A. Trexler
Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 55(2):64-85
Published 8 May 2026
https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn552.ct968
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Abstract
The two geographically disjunct groups of Sarracenia alabamensis subsp. wherryi (D.E. Schnell) Case & R.B. (Case 2005) are described as separate species. The western disjunct entity is elevated to species rank as Sarracenia wherryi (D.E. Schnell) Mellichamp & Trexler comb. et stat. nov., native to Washington County, Alabama, and immediately adjacent Wayne and Greene counties, Mississippi. The eastern entity is described as Sarracenia chrysea Trexler spec. nov., indigenous to Alabama counties of Baldwin, Escambia, Monroe, and Conecuh, and northwest Escambia County, Florida. Integrated biologic, ecologic, geologic, and distribution criteria synthesize as evidence for separate species in a unified concept. Sarracenia chrysea and S. wherryi only form colonies within specific edaphically-governed patches on hillside seepage bogs, where the slowly-succeeding herbaceous ecology excludes shrubs and congeners. Unique developmental and adult biology complimentary to this habitat results in limited ecological tolerances for S. chrysea and S. wherryi. They depend upon this habitat to survive and reproduce, and the specific convergence of factors underlying the formation of their habitat confines these species to irregular patches within larger hillside seepage bogs in sequestered and unrelated inland ranges east and northwest of Mobile Bay.
Keywords: Sarracenia chrysea, Sarracenia wherryi, new species, new rank, new combination, Gulf Coast flora, plant neoteny, seepage bog ecology, niche partitioning, unified species concept
Article Citation
C. A. Trexler. 2026. Splitting Sarracenia alabamensis subsp. wherryi (D.E. Schnell) Case & R.B. Case 2005 into two new species (Sarraceniaceae). Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 55(2):64-85. https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn552.ct968
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