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I have been growing the 'hairy hamata' since 2005 when I got them at a very small size I was hooked by the gorgeous photos by Chi'en - surely this is the ultimate carnivorous plant with hair and teeth Now, 6 years later, with my largest plant flowering and with an upper I thought it would be interesting to review the considerable differences between it and the 'normal' type - under my conditions at least Most strikingly, it is massively smaller. I think I can say that with confidence now it shows all the signs of maturity. The pitchers never got more than a few inches high and it is a slow grower, especially when young In stark contrast to it's big brother a few feet away The lower pitchers are tubby, not elongated It abandoned a rosette and vined early, with a thin climbing stem The upper pitchers (assuming mine is not intermediate or atypical anyway) have not developed the characteristic teeth of the normal form uppers, but have retained red colouration 'Hairy' 'Normal' Leaf attachments Hairy type Normal Type Spur and Lid Hairy Type Normal Type The flowers of my two plants are not the same sex, so I can't compare directly, but I include them for interest 'Normal' 'Hairy' Now, I'm no taxonomist - but can we really consider this to be the same species, without even so much as varietal status?

I finally got around to taking some photos of my 'Coquillage' Venus fly trap and I created a page on FlytrapCare for the official cultivar: Dionaea 'Coquillage' Venus fly trap Like the Alien flytrap I recently posted photos of, this is my first growing season with Coquillage and I'm really liking this plant. The thick traps and short menacing teeth are really neat. Below are some photos I took. Enjoy!

Like many before me, I just want to add my thanks to everyone involved with the event. Only planned to buy maybe one or two plants.....ended up with 18 !!! In a previous life, was Mike (King) ever a second-hand car salesman ? My only gripe over the weekend - and this is a personal thing to me - nothing to do with the event itself, was the little tab that appeared on screen during the lectures (- told you it was personal!!). I work in school(s) where I get dozens of requests from teachers asking to get rid of that little tab because it's in their way. So for 2 days I sat watching Rob Cantley, Mike King etc etc with this little side tab BURNING holes in my eyes ! just wanting to right-click and hide it ! (Not going to mention Friday - the day before EEE, and the school trip I went on.......to Chester Zoo !!!!)