Andreas Fleischmann

Dear Rob, The blue flowered Utricularia is U. babui (which seems to be much more widespread than originally thought), the first record for Sri Lanka! Congrats! The second species is U. graminifolia. I'm pretty sure about the correct ID of both, however to be fully sure, you would have to have a look at their leaves: U. babui has only one single main nerve in the middle of the leaf (like a midrib of Nepenthes ;)), whereas U. graminifolia has at least 3 nerves per leaf. Those nerves are not very obvious sometimes, and best seen if you look at the leaves with some backlight shining through. I agree, the lithophytic plant is an Impatiens spec. To identify tropical Impatiens is almost impossible, as there are only a few experts for this huge genus worldwide (at least 900 species known today). Moreover, only a tiny part of all extant species has already been described. Thus you finding could well be a new species, too ;) All the best, Andreas

Hello Daniel, No doubts about the correct ID of your plant: that is definitely D. esterhuyseniae. This species is known from two single small locations in the Western Cape, and the plants slightly differ in size and hairyness. However all plants in cultivation (at least in Europe) originate from a few collections made in Fernkloof NR. Some plants do look quite different when grown under artificial conditions, compared to the habit of wild-growing plants, thus no reason to doubt that your plant wasn't the real thing! ;) James, are you aware that Fernkloof Nature Reserve is a protected area, and collection of any plant parts (even seeds!) is illegal? Take care, there are high fines imposed by South African Government for illegal plant collection and export! I really concern this issue, because most South African Drosera species are not common plants of every peat bog like the northern temperate ones most of us are familiar with! Several of the interesting South African species do only occur in a few or just one single relict habitat, often in a very small area of a few square metres and in tiny populations close to extinction! And most of them have to rely on a annually "refreshed" established seed bank in the soil to ensure survival after bush fires! However when this wild seed collection of the endangered South African CPs continues, I fear several of them will get extinct in the not to near future! Just as an example, there's only a hand full of Roridula gorgonias left at Fernkloof (one of only two (!!) single spots where this plants grows in the wild!). A commercial South African seed company did (and maybe even does!) collect hundreds of seeds from these plants every year to sell them to CP-enthusiasts! I really hope that there will still be enough seed left in the soil to keep this population alive after a bushfire.... Sorry for bringing in this frustrating off-topic theme, but I'd like to remind of the other side of the coin of the growing interest in cultivating rare "exotic" plants. Unfortunately, the collection of wild plant material does not stop, even when the plants are (well) established in cultivation already. This is true for orchids and cacti, and seems to be the case for rare CPs as well.... Andreas

Hello Christian, Very nice photographs! Just take care, the correct spelling is D. esterhuysen_i_ae (because this species was dedicated to Mrs. Esterhuysen, not to a Mr. Esterhuysen ;)). Sean, I did my very best to get this species established in commercial tissue culture, however it seems to be difficult from seed in vitro . But I'm sure it will be available for purchase from iv soon.... All the best, Andreas

Dear François, Thank you very much for sharing these beautiful photographs with us! I feel honoured, I think I never got dedicated any post so far ;) And of corse yellow aquatic Utricularia are a very good topic to get me interested ;) The plant you found is Utricularia aurea, a quite widespread and variable plant in Asia. Interestingly, the plants your found in Cambodia do not bear a float at the base of the scape, like the plants of U. aurea that I found on penisular Thailand. My favourite photo of yours is the one with the damselfly on the scape (do you know which species? ;)), it's both a nice setup and shows all diagnostic characters to recognize the Utricularia as being U. aurea. All the best, Andreas

Hello, Thanks to your perfect and detailed photographs, it is easy to tell that this is U. scandens. I'm somewhat familiar with this variable species and have found it both in northern Thailand at high altitude (plants with large upper corolla lip like in yours from Laos) and at tropical lowland conditions in Zambia (plants with upper corolla lip shorter than calyx). An easy grower (even weed) from seed, although this annual species tends to be short-lived in cultivation. All the best, Andreas

Hello George, The pygmy flower is that of Drosera spilos. It's easy to recognize from other 3-styled white flowered species with red blotches on the petals as it has relatively long filaments and anthers/pollen that is white. D. helodes, in contrast, has very short filaments (the anthers appear almost sessile) and yellow pollen (see Fredders' photo of D. helodes for example). Strange that you found D. spilos 60 km south of Perth, as it is acutally known to occur north of Perth only. Do you have any photo of the rosette of the plant? Your yellow-flowered climbing tuberous Drosera is not D. subhirtella (which would have somewhat larger flowers and much more branched feathery styles) but D. intricata. I imagine that this plant was growing in very wet conditions? (is that what you refer to as a "soak"? ;)) Did the pygmy grow at the same wet location than D. intricata, or did you find it in drier soil? Perhaps growing in laterite soil? ;) All the best, Andreas

Hello, Christian, all of these plants are correctly identified as "D. curviscapa". Drosera esterhuyseniae is not a rosetted plant like aliciae or "curviscapa", but has short stems and semi-upright leaves (like D. venusta, for example). Moreover, the leaves of D. esterhuyseniae are narrowly cuneate. All the best, Andreas

Hello Fernando and Daniel, Dani, even some D. ascendens in cultivation do have hairy scapes, for example the plant Thomas Carow sold as "D. villosa 'large'" some years ago, which is was called to be from "Ribeirão Pires, São Paulo" later. A very dark red form with broad lamina that is densely whooly hairy on the lower sirface, and with very short stipules and very short petiole. Your D. ascendens x schwackei reminds me a lot of this plant! ;) Do you grow that special form of D. ascendens? Did you notice the very hairy scapes in this one? Take care, the hairs of that D. ascendens are deciduous, thus will not be noticed in flowering specimens ;) But you will be able to convince me of your hybrid when the flowers open! ;) If the stigmas are flabellate, it's no doubt a cross with D. schwackei. Take care using the location "Bandeira Peak" for this D. ascendens! That's the plant Stefan Ippenberger got without location data (as far as I remember), and he showed photos of this plant as "D. villosa" on this forum. Fernando coined in that this was D. ascendens of course, and that it reminds him most of the plants he had found at Pico do Bandeira. That's how this form got it's name. But it is a very large form however. Fernando, didn't you mention the plants from Bandeira peak were actually quite small? Here's a thread by Stefan Ippenberger from 2004, where Fernando doubt's that the large plant is in fact from Bandeira Peak: "D. villosa Bandeira Peak" See this photo by Stefan: http://freenet-homepage.de/byblis/dvillosagraoascend3p.jpg Dani, the plant in the left upper corner is the D. ascendens from "ex Ribeirao Pires", which Stefan calls "100km SW of Sao Paulo". Do you notice the hairy scapes? Later, Andreas

Hello, Sorry that I did not get into this discussion earlier (but in contrast to Daniel, I somehow never manage to get free of all work for a certain time ;) Dani, what's your secret, haha?). First of all, I can only second Thomas' and Daniel's obervations: I did not a single seed grain from this "old clone" of D. schwackei (which I, like Daniel, got from Kamil Pasek of bestcarnivourosplants, who grows it from tissue culture). This D. schwackei and the D. "yutajensis" from Duida (from tissue culture of Joachim Nerz) are the only (!) two South American Drosera in my collection that never produced any seed from selfing, nor when I used them as pollen donors for crossing experiments! Problems in pollen meiosis are known after hormone treatment of plants, likewise are infertile triploid plants. BUT I did easily get viable seed from selfed flowers of a seed-grown D. schwackei from Cipó this season (that's the seed you have sent to me a few years ago Fernando!). Thus I assume that the plants originating from Thomas Carow's collection somehow are a sterile clone, due to whatever reason. Dani, did you get any viable seed using your D. schwackei as a pollen donor, or only when using this as the pollen accepting plant? Second: Drosera-hybrids involving a South American species as one parent at least: Fernando, I made many hybrids with many Drosera species across the world, but did not grow all of them to maturity (due to limited space in my greenhouse). I just tested if the seed was viable, and then usually gave away the plants to friend growers. That's why I cannot show photographs of most hybrids. Venezuelan species (such as D. hirticalyx, D. roraimae) readily hybridize with many Drosera species if artificially cross-pollinated in cultivation. I made the experience that any Drosera with filiform stigmatic tips is much easier to hybridise in cultivation, than those with a special knob or feather like stigmatic apex. Makes sense to me, as those specialised tips are usually found only in regions with great Drosera diversity (eg. Western Australia, Western Cape, Brazil). Thus in my opinion, this is an adaptation to avoid hybridisation when many different species are growing sympatrically. BUT you can avoid this reproductive borders when cutting the very tip of the stigmas, and then putting the pollen onto the surface of the cut. Just take care that you are still using some part of the receptive stigma tissue (which is usually white or translucent in Brazilian Drosera species, whereas the style tissue itself is pinkish). This is the only way I was able to create hybrids using species such as D. graminifolia or D. chrysolepis as the pollen accepting plants, for example. Dani, you might try this in order to get hybrid seed from D. camporupestris as well! Dani, I would be very interested in what species combinations you have successfully created viable hybrid seed. Fernando, I will readily send you my spreadsheet with all combinations and results I tried over the years (in case I did not do so yet! ;)). I just don't want to make this public here, but publish results some printed journal first (sorry, you may perhaps call this "airs and graces of a fuzzy scientist", haha ;) But at least this was hard and time consuming work ;)). Third: Dani, I'm not sure if your cross between D. schwackei and D. ascendens was indeed a successfull one. At least the resulting putative hybrid on your photograph looks more like "common" D. ascendens to me. I have observed this kind of undulate leaves in several location forms of D. ascendesn so far, at least when they are in full growth (for example very obvious in the plants that Stefan Ippenberger distributed as D. ascendens originating from "Bandeira Peak" (and as "D. villosa" in the very beginning). But see discussion about the identity and origin of this plant in this forum, some years ago). All the best, Andreas

Hello, Sorry for the long silence! This topic had already been pointed out to me by several people (thanks Darren, Alexander and Andy! ;)). John, I don't think that this plant is something unusual. And at least I do notice a clear rostrum in two traps in focus in the second trap photograph of the original post. Moreover I have to admit that I cannot see the differences in trap morphology you mentioned. To me these traps appear to fall within the normal range of U. dichotoma, both in respect of size and morphology. Andy, I can well imagine that Greg was happy to see those flowers, as they have four yellow rims on the palate, not two as usually found in the U. dichotoma that is widely cultivated among CPers. However, again I have to mention that U. dichotoma is a very variable species, which can also have 3 or more yellow rims (already mentioned in Taylor, 1989). Both the size and shape of the flowers, as well as the colour of the corolla and leaves, the length of the scape, the number of flowers per scape, the size and the sape of the leaves varies a lot among U. dichotoma from different locations. Flower and plant size ranges from tiny plants equaling flowers of large U. violacea in size near Esperance Bay to tuberous plants with impressive large flowers discovered by Sean Spence. I am still impressed by all the different location forms of U. dichotoma which Sean found in the past few years, all which look slightly different from each other. Sean might probably be the one be most familiar with the natural variations of different forms of U. dichotoma, and apparently this "single species" seems to look different at almost every location. Allen Lowrie already started to distinguish different "U. aff. dichotoma" which are notable different. However I fear to sort this species complex, you might need a lifetime's work! ;) @Darren, Sean and Andy: Considering the finding of U. violacea from Tasmania, I did already reply to you by e-mail. It seems U. violacea does occur on Tasmania, however the plant from Windmill certainly is not that species ;) All the best, Andreas

Hello, As Andy already stated, D. regia occured at two different locations at Baineskloof, at two different altitudes. The upper location has been totally overgrown by Restionaceae in 2006, and is apparently extinct in the wild. The lower location consists of about 50 plants at maximum, thus is critically endangered as well. Luckily D. regia is save in cultivation, as there are over a hundred times more plants in all CP enthusiasts collections around the world, than there are still plants occuring naturally. Plants from both locations are established well in cultivation. Both "location forms" differ slighty from each other. The plants from the lower spot have longer, thinner leaves, and the scapes are longer as well. This is the more widespread "clone", which seems to be a little bit easier to grow. The flowers of these plants are a little bit paler than those of the upper location, and a scientist from Bonn university found a single plant with very pale pink flowers (nearly pure white), which he brought into cultivation. However the "white flowered" D. regia seems to be most difficult to grow in cultivation, and is only very slowly propagating. The plants from the upper location have shorter leaves, but which are wider. The flowers are of a darker pink colour, and the scapes are shorter, more robust and thus do not bend down as in the "other" D. regia. Interestingly, this "clone" always makes a short dormancy in winter under my growing conditions, forming hibernaculae and no new foliage. Johannes Betz, an experienced grower of many CP genera for several decades now, has created at least two more different "clones" from crossing both location forms. He keeps spreading seed-grown plants of each "clone" of D. regia (which finally are sold by various commercial CP growers as well ;)), thus maintaining different genetical material in cultivation. Danny, flowers of D. regia do not open their stames and styles at the same time (just like Dionaea does as well!). Young, closed anthers of D. regia are longer than opened anthers, which skrink and wilt as they release their pollen. You may notice that the opened flower on the right in your photograph has unopened (long and orange) thecae, whereas in the flower on the left, the pollen is already shed (thecae are yellow and shrinking as they are opening). All the best, Andreas

¡Hola! In May, I spent one week of holiday in Andalusia, Spain. As my holiday is usually spent on botanical excursions or hunting for CPs with fellow carnivorous plant enthusiasts, my girlfriend felt a little bit neglected lately and started complaining. Well, she cannot get the idea of what it’s like climbing up remote mountains in places with no tourist spots around at all (usually with barely any civilisation at all, haha), or walking through mud, dirt and bogs just to spend hours of laying flat on the ground in front of small plants which all look the same ;). Thus I never was able to convince her in joining me when hunting for CPs ... ;) Therefore I had to spend some “real holiday” without CPs this time, and it was my girlfriend who suggested to travel to Andalusia. She thought this part of the world would be far too hot and too dry to host any carnivorous plants, hahaha! ;). Indeed this time I did more sightseeing and relaxing and less plant hunting. However I managed to sneak into the bush for at least a few hours two times (when driving to Gibraltar and Ronda respectively), in order to find Drosophyllum in its natural habitat, as well as Pinguicula lusitanica, several orchids and parasitic plants. (the price for this CP-hunting time was high, as it did cost me an extensive dinner in an expensive Spanish restaurant and –even worse- a Salsa dancing course with my girl, which I still suffer from today ;);)) I visited several locations of Drosophyllum in southern Andalusia. The plants grew in very dry sandy soils over sandstone (acidic conditions) in heath lands (“macchia”), accompanied by various species of Erica (heather), Lavandula (lavender), Cistaceae (rockroses) and other sclerophyllous shrubs. The soil was dry as dust and hard like concrete on the surface with little moisture below during May already, but these sites are moist or wet seepages in winter and early spring. This type of vegetation on acidic soils is called wet “brezal” in Spain. All sites are well drained, and the most vigorous plants grew on almost vertical South-facing sandstone cliffs. Several plants of Drosophyllum lusitanicum on S-facing cliff. Some of the plants had very old stems that were up to 2 cm in diameter at the base, and branched multiple times, resulting in plants up to 50 cm high with several growth points. I found several species of scarabaeid beetles that were regularly visiting the flowers of the Drosophyllum plants, and which were feeding on pollen and petals. Interestingly, some Cistaceae which often grew together with Drosophyllum, namely Halimium lasianthum and several species of Fumana, had similar looking yellow flowers, which were visited by the same beetles, not discriminating between the flowers of Drosophyllum and the Cistaceae. See above the flower of a Fumana spec. Drosophyllum growing in “brezal” heath-land, accompanied by Erica multiflora and Lavandula stoechas. Close-up of the plant, illustrating the inverse circinate vernation of the leaves. Circinate vernation (i.e. leaves that are coiled in bud) are very rare in flowering plants (however quite common in fronds of ferns and fern-alikes). And inverse circination (i.e. leaves coiled outwards from the bud) is only known from Drosophyllum, its close relative Triphyophyllum (in both carnivorous and the non-carnivorous leaves!) and the non-related annual species of Byblis. Strange coincidence that they are all carnivorous, isn’t it? Erica multiflora, growing in the same dry sand soil as Drosophyllum. In the late afternoon sunlight, this dense stand of Drosophyllum was glistening impressively. The sweet, honey-like scent of this large colony could already be noticed from several metres distance. Drosophyllum lusitanicum and Lavandula stoechas (note the purple flower-like bracts on top of the inflorescence) All the best, Andreas

Hello all, The original article (including the corrected line drawing) can be found as a free pdf for download at: http://www.botanik.biologie.uni-muenchen.d...09_modified.pdf The file is a bit large, thus download may tike a while. All the best, Andreas

Hey Fernando, I was faster this time, haha: Drosera amazonica ;) But I did cross-link to this original article in the Drosera subforum. All the best, Andreas PS: The original article (including the corrected line drawing) can be found as a free pdf for download at: http://www.botanik.biologie.uni-muenchen.d...09_modified.pdf The file is a bit large, thus download may tike a while. All the best, Andreas

Hello all, Jim, I fully agree with you! It's one of my favourite species (maybe only outcompeted by D. indica and D. spatulata ;)), all which are easy growing weeds. @Dave: No, this is not a fern at all. The grass-like plant behind the D. capensis in that photo is a Restionaceae, the tiny shrublet on the left is a member of Ericaceae. All the best, Andreas

Dear Drosera-lovers, Fernando’s amazing new discovery (see this thread: New Drosera species from the Amazon) from the Amazon lowlands of Brazil now finally got named officially: Drosera amazonica – the Amazon sundew! The article was published in the latest issue of the journal Ecotropica: “Rivadavia, F., Vicentini, A. & Fleischmann, A., 2009. A new species of sundew (Drosera, Droseraceae), with water-dispersed seed, from the floodplains of the northern Amazon basin, Brazil. Ecotropica 15: 13-21.” It will be available for free download on their homepage in three years. However I will provide a free pdf-version of the original article on my university homepage in a few days as well, as soon as I got certain about my copyrights. I just want to change the botanical line drawing first, because a preliminary drawing (lacking proper scale bars and without indicating letters) appeared in the print version and pdf of the journal. ;) I will post the direct link to the pdf-file here as soon as I have fixed the botanical drawing... Photos and information on the plant in its natural habitat can be read in Fernando’s original report on CP UK forum (see above link) and in the species' description. And here are two photos of plants of D. amazonica in cultivation, raised from seed (thanks again Fernando!) to flowering plants in less than 12 months! This plant does not only remind me of D. roraimae or D. felix (or maybe even some stunted D. intermedia), it also shares their vigour and fast growth. Luckily it seems D. amazonica is a rather easy grower, providing warm temperatures and general Drosera needs (especially good light intensity and qualitiy!). It grows well in milled sphagnum:sand mix or peat:sand-mix in tray system (keep it very wet!) both in my hot greenhouse and under artificial lights (T5-bulbs) in a terrarium. I would guess if you are able to grow D. roraimae or D. felix successfully, you’ll be able to grow D. amazonica as well. Note the short scape of the almost sessile single flower, which is typical for this species. The flowers are sweetly parfumed (like those of D. arenicola, for example). Unfortunately I do neither have spare seed nor spare plants at the moment to share, but have already spread it to several experienced sundew growers around the world for further propagation and distribution. All the best, Andreas

Hello, This Heliamphora disease is caused by a phytopathogenic fungus (which I was able to identify during my molecular studies of Heliamphora by chance), which infects the vascular tissue of the centre of the plant, and can kill a healthy plant within a few days by browing heart disease/ wilt disease. This fungus lives within the tissue of a plant as an endophyte in its asuexual phase (even in wild populations of Heliamphora as it seems), and normally does not harm the plant. However, providing the perfect conditions for the fungus to propagate (which are unfortunately exactly those conditions which will make Heliamphora suffer much, and thus get an easy host for mass infection by the fungus), i.e. prolonged warm temperatures above 28°C and high humidity, the fugus hyphae start growing rapidly, filling all vascular bundels of the plant host's heart (you will recognized dark brown collapsed bundels in the centre of the plant, filled with hyphae under a microscope). The roots and leaves are still looking healthy at this stage, but the plant heart is already dead. It's very characteristic for this wilting disease that the leaves and roots are dying/rotting from the centre to the tip! This means that the tips of the leaves are still fresh and green, whereas the base is already brown and rotting. I made some infection and growth experiments with this fungus at university in a heated chamber. This fungus can kill a healthy Heliamphora plant at 28°C and high humidity in less than 10 days after infection! On the dying plant parts in the centre of the plant, hundereds of little conidia (asexual spores) are formed for propagation by air and especially water droplets. Interestingly, this fungus is not growing well on artificial growth media, and I did not find any chemical treatment to stop it's growth yet. But I'm still working on this subject, and will keep you updated. BTW, a related species of fungus is causing almost the same disease in Darlingtonia! I cannot recommend any cure for infected plants so far (usually the "terminal" stage of this disease is leading to loss of the infected plant, but sometimes regrowth occurs from lateral buds, if growth conditions are changed at once), only preventation: Cool temperatures (especially during summer heat waves!) seem to be essential, especially cool root temperatures! Spores of this fungus seem to be around everywhere (airborne?), and experienced Heliamphora growers told me that they never had any problems with this wilting disease indoors, when using pure water (not rainwater). This might be due to optimal growing conditions as well. I only had this problem with Heliamphora grown outdoors or in my greenhouse so far. All the best, Andreas

Hello Christian, No, you are right, the are not a red as we are used to see them in cultivation. However in its natural habitat, these D. capensis do not grow in full sun all day, but partially shaded under overhangig rocks on a SE-facing cliff (as I have already mentioned above!). Both names are possible, "Gifberg" is the Dutch/Afrikaans spelling, "Giftberg" is most likely a German spelling thereof. Indeed the spelling "Gifberg" is found more often recently, however you will find the version with "t" in most maps and on herbarium labels (maybe because it was usually Germans to draw the maps and steal the plants? ;)). Interestingly, the South African botanical journal Bothalia demands using the "germanized" spelling with "t". But I agree that it is more appropriate to call the mountain "Gifberg". All D. capensis "red" in cultivation originate from seeds distributed by Eric Green (from the early 80ies on), which he collected from this population at Gifberg. As far as I know, this is the only known population of these red D. capensis, however I cannot exclude further populations in the red sandstone mountains of the northern Cape. All the best, Andreas

Congratulations Marc! This is the thrid plant of G. guianesis I know of that has been flowering in cultivation (all of them in Germany ;)). You were lucky to catch it in flower, because I made the experience that this G. guianensis has very short-lived flowers, which usually last only for a few days (very unusual for Lentibulariaceae!). Fernando, this is a plant from the Gran Sabana of Venezuela. Easy to tell from the white spur and the wide leaves. And because I haven't spread the plants from Cristalina yet, just the plants from Venezuela ;). All the best, Andreas

Hello Sarah, All of the newly added photographs (flowers and vegetative parts) show U. minor, not U. bremii. Indeed U. bremii is rare (extinct?) in Scottland, but re-discovery of course it not impossible. I agree with you that all green leaf segments shown in photo 2 (first post) belong to U. minor. You don't even have to look for the lateral spinules on the leaf segment margins, it's just the overall small size that easily distinguished them from U. stygia at first sight. What is still puzzling to me is the long pale subterranous stonlon with large traps that runs across the foreground in your photo no. 2. I have never observed such large traps on U. minor, but know them well from members of the U. intermedia aggregate. To me it looks like this single pale stolon is detached from a different plant (i.e. U. stygia). However we should trust your observations more of course, I had not been to that site (yet ;)). If you noticed that there was just this type of plant growing as the only species in that bog (I trust you will well recognize U. stygia), and if you say that all plant parts shown in photo no. 2 were connected to a single specimen, I do believe you. Well then those are the biggest traps I have ever seen in U. minor (and a rare proof of pale subterranous stolons in that species). Congrats! Well done, and thanks for showing your beautiful photographs and sharing your knowledge! All the best, Andreas

Hello Sarah, The flower belongs to either U. minor or U. bremii (the latter is more likely, but in order to confirm this for sure, I would need either a) a more detailed photograph of the flower taken from above or below, b) an indication of the size of the flower, or at least c) the time of the year the photograph was taken ;)). This flower for certain does not belong to any member of the U. intermedia aggregate (U. intermedia, U. stygia or U. ochroleuca), thus your botanist was wrong ;). The 2nd photograph shows a mixture of two different species (the green stolons with smaller traps belong to the plant in flower, i.e. either U. minor or U. bremii; the pale subterranous stolons with larger traps belong to a member of the U. intermedia agg., which is most likely U. stygia. I assume this is an acidic peat bog habitat (judging from the sphagnum in the 1st photo), which means U. stygia is the species found there most commonly (however U. stygia is a shy flowerer)). All the best, Andreas

Hello Daniel, Thanks for the compliments. VERY seperated! ;) As already stated several times before in this forum, the anthocyan-free D. capensis 'alba' has so far never been found in the wild. All white-flowered D. capensis in cultivation originate from single clone of a spontaneous mutation in cultivation (from Thomas Carow's nursery, if I remember correctly). All the best, Andreas

Hello, In addition to all the beautifull photogrpahs of D. ramentacea and D. capensis in cultivation, I have just written two short threads on both plants in the wild: D. ramentacea: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33447 D. capensis: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33450 The hybrid between D. capensis and D. ramentacea is a manmade hybrid created in cultivation, and it is very unlikely that it occurs naturally in South Africa. Both parent species require very different habitat needs, and are therefore not found growing closely together. All the best, Andreas

Drosera capensis is probably the most commonly cultivated sundew, and may become a serious noxious weedy where it got naturalized in suitable habitats. Surprisingly, this easy grower is not the most common Drosera species of the Cape area (this is without doubt the summer dormant geophyte D. trinvervia, which grows in every spot that supports CP growth, comparable to the annual D. glanduligera of Western Australia). D. capensis is widespread in Southern Africa, however not a common plant! It grows very localized, and usually in rather small populations. In its country of origin, D. capensis is a plant of very wet spots, which are at moist even at the top of the dry season (and those are usually rare in the seasonally fynbos vegetation of the Cape), like seepage areas, shores of lakes and rivers, wet water-filled depressions, roadside ditches, sphagnum bogs or dripping walls over rocks. The darker part in the middle is a wet depression with seeping cool water, where the “narrow leaf”-type of D. capensis was found. Here, D. capensis „narrow leaf“ grew in patches of poor soil between white quartz gravel. Accompanying CPs were Utricularia bisquamata ‘small flower’ (the weedy one!). Maybe you can even spot some developing scapes of the Utricularia in the left corner of the photograph. In drier, higher elevated spots (which get dry in summer), Drosera trinervia and D. zeyheri could be found. Trio of D. capensis ;). ---- At a different location far more to the North of the Western Cape, at Giftberg (Afrikaans for “toxic mountain”) - a tepui-like mountain plateau consisting of red sandstone - another form of D. capensis grows in a totally different habitat: This is where all D. capensis ‘red’ in cultivation originate from! The plants of D. capensis which grow at Giftberg are getting an all red colour when grown in full sun. However, in the wild, D. capensis usually prefers slightly shaded conditions, and is often growing on dark S- or SE-facing walls (like several of the European Pinguicula, which commonly prefer NW- or NE-facing walls). The wet dripping wall habitat of D. capensis at Giftberg did remind me much of Pinguicula sites in Europe. However this is sandstone, not limestone, thus acidic conditions of course! D. capensis grows in a thin waterlogged carpet of mud and algae over the rock surface. Interestingly, a pink-flowered form of D. trinervia with quite long scapes grows sympatrically with D. capensis ‘red’ on these dripping walls. This is remarkable, because all other locations, where D. trinervia profoundly grows seem to dry out during the hot African summer. Maybe this is an “evergrowing” D. trinvervia? However, as all plants of those D. trinervia just had a few rosette leaves (like their white flowered sisters of seasonally wet habitats), I assume that they are dying back to dormant roots even if conditions are wet year-round. Just like the tuberous D. auriculata, which can well stand permanently wet soils, too, and which goes dormant nevertheless. D. capensis was able to settle directly in the rock cavities at any suitable spot where at least some water is permanently seeping through fine cracks of the red sandstone. In more shaded conditions (like underneath overhanging rocks), the plants grew bigger (up to 30 cm in diameter!), but did not get as colourful as plants growing in brighter spots receiving more sun at least for some part of the day. Famous sundew expert Dr. Robert Gibson carefully observing D. capensis growing in the shelter of a ledge. The only flower of D. capensis we found in September (out of season). All the best, Andreas

Drosera ramentacea is a rare sundew species from the fynbos vegetation of the south-western Western Cape region of South Africa. “Fynbos” means “fine bush” and refers to the dry scrubland vegetation type common to the Cape area, which mainly consists of small shrubs with thin, needle like leaves, or sclerophyllous foliage (heath lands comparable to the “macchia”, “phrygana” or “garrigue” of the Mediterranean). This sundew does not form large colonies, but grows scattered as single individuals or in groups of few plants only. Maybe one of the most elusive Drosera species that we found in the Cape area. Typical costal fynbos habitat of D. ramentacea at the base of Table Mountain Nature Reserve. Can you spot the two plantlets of D. ramentacea amongst surrounding ericoid vegetation? Drosera ramentacea is not a bog plant of soaking wet soils at all, but grows in rather dry, very sandy peat soils over white Table Mountain Sandstone. In September, when we visited some locations of this plant, the soil was very dry in the upper part, and started getting just moist from about 10 cm below the soil surface. D. ramentacea is well known for producing some of the longest tap roots of all sundews (and so do D. hilaris, D. cuneifolia and D. glabripes, which all grow in exactly the same type of habitat), reaching more than 50 cm in length, in order to reach the subsoil moisture of its natural habitats. Those of you who are successfully growing this species will perhaps agree in that the roots of D. ramentacea are quickly reaching to the bottom of even the tallest pots ;). It is from those thick roots that the plant sprouts again after regular bush fires, or after years of exceptional drought. Note the little green plantlet sprouting from the roots to the left of the main stem of this one. D. ramentacea is a winter growing, summer dormant sundew of the Cape area. However it is not fully dying back to its roots (like the geophyte D. cistiflora for example; plants which survive a dormancy as subterraneous organs are called “geophytes”), but forming a dense hairy resting bud at the top of its stem (comparable to the hibernacula of the temperate Drosera species). This bud is surviving the dry South African summer, and resumes regrowth with the start of the winter rainfall again. Plants surviving a dormancy as a dormant resting bud above soil surface are called “chasmophytes”. The same strategy is followed by the related species D. hilaris, D. ericgreenii and D. glabripes, all which are sommer dormant chasmophytes. D. ramentacea can form tall stems up to 1 m in height (given support by nearby vegetation), however the plants are usually much smaller. We found a lot of old dead desiccated stems with fresh juvenile growth from the roots, most likely caused by some dry years. In the wild, D. ramentacea is often growing in the shelter of some shrub or rocks, and the roots are often formed right into even the narrowest rock cavities, where some moisture accumulates. D. ramentacea can be easily told apart from D. capensis (a plant of wetter habitats; see different topic) by the presence of long, white hairs which are spreading from the petiole (hairs in D. capensis are much shorter and more or less appressed, and quite often deciduous, i.e. only present on young leaves). Moreover, the lamina of D. ramentacea is wider but shorter than it is in all forms of D. capensis, and stipules of both species are different as well. In general, the scape of almost all individuals of D. ramentacea is dichotomously forked, whereas D. capensis has a simple raceme (which can, however, be forked in robust plants in cultivation. Especially plants of D. capensis from Baineskloof tend to have forked scapes) All the best, Andreas PS: Fernando sitting in typical fynbos habitat of D. ramentacea ( “Boooring! Olha como o cerrado em Brasil! “ ;);))