hi,
to summerize, atropurpurea refers to the all red tube plants found in the Carolinas whereas Rubricorpora refers to red tube/green lid plants from the gulf coast.
but...
1) many all red plant can be found in the gulf coast... yet they are still considered rubricorpora because the lid is green before/upon opening as opposed to true atropurpurea from the carolinas. They also often have a typical shape and growth pattern... + The reason for the division is that rubricorpora seems to be genetically paired with rugelii, both being two expression of the same gene pool... whereas atropurpurea is associated with cuprea in the carolinas... That could explain the couple anecdotal occurrence of rugelii babies from rubricorpora and atropurpurea from cuprea...
2) but then some noted that some plants in the panhandle are indeed all red and seem to really stand out... haven't heard confirmation or infirmation about that... but they do look like the plant on the right of your photo...
3) Because of the confusion, many people labeled plants solely based on their colour and so many gulf coast plants ended up being labeled atropurpurea.
4 true atropurpurea (from the carolina) are rare in cultivation, waccamaw being one of them.
I think beyond the physical appearance of those plants, the genetic make up is important for conservationists... thus, identification of plants based on geographical location being more important than their appearance...
the complete discussion can be found below:
See below for description of S.flava var. atropurpurea, S.'Waccamaw' as published in latest CPN. Link:
sarracenia.proboards.com
Given the current debate about the legitimacy of Sarracenia flava "varieties", I thought the following would be of interest. I will be using the term variety for simplicity other than for those
sarracenia.proboards.com