Phytologia (A ug 2004) 86(2) 1 1 



MISSISSIPPI AND OKLAHOMA POPULATIONS 



In order to get a better picture of habitat for this species, we made 

 trips to southern Mississippi on 4 May 1 999 and to southern Oklahoma 

 on 26 September 2000 to visit known populations. In Mississippi, P. 

 grandifolia grows in three types of pitcher plant bog habitat: seepage 

 bogs, springhead seepages, and muck or quaking bogs (see Eakes 1989; 

 Folkerts 1991). Associates include Arnoglossum ovatum, Chaptalia 

 tomentosa, Cyrilla racemiflora, Drosera spp v Eriocaulon compression, 

 Ilex coriacea, Lycopodiella alopecuriodes, Magnolia virginiana, Morella 

 caroliniensis, Rhynchospora macra, Sabatia macrophylla, Sarracenia 

 alata. S. psittacina, Smilax laurifolia, Sphagnum sp., and Toxicodendron 

 vernix. Parnassia grandifolia grows in both open areas and in various 

 degrees of shade. Some of the populations we observed were growing in 

 total or near-total sunlight. 



There is only one known P. grandifolia site in Oklahoma. The plants 

 were first found by Taylor and Taylor (1978) in an "upland marsh" in 

 northern Choctaw Co. We found them growing in full sun at the edge of 

 the marsh in permanently wet mucky soils surrounded by dense marsh 

 vegetation. Associates included: Boehmeria cylindrica, Conoclinium 

 coelestinum, Eupatorium perfoliatum, Helianthus angustifolius, H. 

 grosseserratus, H. mollis, Helenium autumnale, Juncus sp., Melanthium 

 virginicum, Rudbeckia fulgida, R. hirta, Saccharum giganteum, Salix 

 sp., Solidago sp., Sorghastrum nutans, Typha sp., and Woodwardia 

 areolata. 



What was interesting about the Oklahoma population was that not 

 only were they growing in full sunlight, but they were much more robust 

 than other populations we had seen and were in flower in mid-September, 

 fully two months earlier than the Kisatchie National Forest P. grandifolia 

 populations. This early blooming was also the case in 1976 when the 

 species was first collected at this site by John Taylor. We measured scape 

 height for comparison with Natchitoches Parish populations. Eight 

 scapes for Oklahoma plants ranged from 35 cm to 60 cm and averaged 



