Fernando Rivadavia Posted November 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Matt, By saying that it goes dormant, do you mean that it loses all its leaves? I do not believe this is the case. It seems more that the plants SLOW DOWN for a while, forming rosettes along the stems. Take Care, Fernando Rivadavia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundewmatt Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 hey fern i spoke to andreas and he says he feels my 1st hypothesis is correct - that the rosette formation occurs when the competing vegetation slows down or dies. or actually maybe its when flexicaulis grows faster and above it... matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Rivadavia Posted November 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 Hey Matt, That's a great hypothesis: "If not this... then that!" Hahaha! :):) The grasses surrounding D.flexicaulis (which it uses as support), like at any seepage bog, are always more or less the same length, unless they get burned. And when they get burned, so do the Drosera. So there's no way the Drosera grow when the grasses grow. If the regular spurts of growth seen in D.flexicaulis are due to ecological factors, then it's either photoperiod or humidity-related. Which would explain why in cultivation in Japan they apparently grow without forming rosettes along the stems. See ya, Fernando Rivadavia P.S. And stop calling Andreas in the middle of the night!! :):) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundewmatt Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 do you think the flexicaulis may get burned but grow back from the ends of the stems rather than fron the ground? btw, the last batch of "elongata" from japan are from serenje. mine are growing well. :) is it possible the plants in japan arent old enough / tall enough to grow rosettes? m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Rivadavia Posted November 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 We saw a few burned areas and there were no D.flexicaulis stems left. The pics I've seen of plants from Japan are very long, with no rosetttes. Take Care, Fernando Rivadavia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Fleischmann Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 Hello! Fernando, did you notice that all passed flower stalks were produced from the rosetted "stage". None of them was formed during the stemmed "stage". None of the D. fexicaulis was in flower when we visited the locations in late September, whereas D. burkeana, D. affinis, D. elongata and D. madagascariensis had been in full bloom. Thus my 2 opinions: The condensed growth (i.e. the rosette) is a reaction to ecological reasons (maybe lower humidity, higher light levels?). Flowering occurs at the same time (by chance? ;)). 2nd: Flowering is induced by ecological circumstances (known in some different plants ;)). Flowering causes reduction of leaf size in many sundews (did you notice how smal the leaves of many rosetted Drosera are when producing flowers? ;)), why not reduction of internode length as well? As you can see from Fernandos photographs, the rosette leaves of D. flexicaulis are shorter then the stem leaves. BTW, D. flexicaulis is not the only stem forming Drosera with a "dimorphic" growth mode: When D. hilaris starts from dormancy, the first internodes are very short, same when getting into dormancy. Flowering in D. hilaris causes a stunted growth as well! All the best, Andreas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundewmatt Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 aha! good answer, andreas. this makes perfect sense to me. a lot of drosera slow down when flowering. maybe the japanese growers havent flowered it???? is this possible??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Rivadavia Posted November 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 Hi guys, Check out this pic of D.flexicaulis(?) in Japan: http://dragonteardrops.hp.infoseek.co.jp/D...ta_02052006.JPG If this is in fact D.flexicaulis (and not D.elongata or other), it proves that D.flexicaulis can flower from the stem phase. If this is true, it means that the ecological trigger for flowering is not the same as the trigger that induces rosettes. Both triggers may occur synchronously in nature, but rosette forming is apparently not a direct cause of flowering (and vice-versa). Best Wishes, Fernando Rivadavia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundewmatt Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 hey fernando that photos not too clear but what im seeing in this photo is that all of them are in the rosette phase, including the one on the left thats just starting to put up a scape. take a closer look. maybe khelljugh has a better pic? matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Rivadavia Posted November 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 Hey Matt, Actually, I think you're right! I was fooled by the fact that the internodes are longer than the ones we saw in the wild, both for the rosette leaves and the stem leaves. So I guess they do flower from rosettes... Always? But which comes first? The chicken or the egg? Or at the same time? And why? Best Wishes, Fernando Rivadavia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundewmatt Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 well everyone knows the egg came before the chicken but im not sure about this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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