Utric blooms of spring

[RL7836]

It's been a very good spring for my plants as they've presented me with some flowers that I've never seen before (in person).

I'll start with the flower of the month - U. longifolia ...

.... and now my super surprise - U. nelumbifolia. I got some of these plants late last summer and never expected flowers for some time. One of my plants not only bloomed, it had two stalks (another plant still attached to an aerial stolon sent up a stalk but I clipped it - what was it thinking??).

.... and the one below clearly shows the stripes on the spur - very cool.

... and my vote for the most under-appreciated plant of the group - U. nephrophylla - lovely ivory white offset by colorful protruding eyes....

.... and now the 'Triclops' - three eyes (& yes - that's a 2nd spur)

A few from the 'Little weedy section'... First up - the turtle shell of U. graminifolia...

The plant that gets my vote for most difficult to photograph - U. bisquamata

... to give an idea of the size - here's one that includes my skinny finger... combine this tiny flower with a point-and-shoot camera that doesn't have manual focus or depth-of-field control and you get a lot of

I'll finish with a group shot of U. livida blooms ...

....some additional shots of U. livida & the others are in my growlist (typically different angles)

[Tim Caldwell]

Really beautiful! Some of those South American species have stunning flowers - I wouldn't be surprised if they cause some orchid fanatics out there to make the crossover to becoming CP addicts!

The prices you can pay for a special rarity are probably comparable too. I was scrolling through the list of plants offered by Best Carnivorous Plants the other day and noticed that they sell the spectacular, red flowered U. campbelliana for 150 euros, which in my currency is about $220 AUD. I'm going to resist the temptation.

[Sean Spence]

The U. nelumbifolia flowers are quite a bit paler than those I've seen/grown. Does it have location details?

The prices you can pay for a special rarity are probably comparable too. I was scrolling through the list of plants offered by Best Carnivorous Plants the other day and noticed that they sell the spectacular, red flowered U. campbelliana for 150 euros, which in my currency is about $220 AUD. I'm going to resist the temptation.

As they can't be imported without perishing, unfortunately you couldn't even if you could afford one.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Sean Spence

[RL7836]

Really beautiful! Some of those South American species have stunning flowers - I wouldn't be surprised if they cause some orchid fanatics out there to make the crossover to becoming CP addicts!

I agree. I've admired pics of Iperua / Orchidioides for some time but finally took the plunge last year - really glad that I did.

The U. nelumbifolia flowers are quite a bit paler than those I've seen/grown. Does it have location details?

Neither clone that I was able to locate last year had location info. This clone apparently originated from BCP. (Fresh seeds that I legally imported from a Brazilian grower took 3 weeks to move through the mail system & weren't viable on arrival). Looking through Bob's photofinder when the stalks were growing, I noticed a distinct difference in flower colors. Some appeared almost white to my eye - here, here, here, etc. At the time, I wondered if those photos were just overexposed. In addition, although I have not gone through every photo, I didn't notice any with the colorful striping on the spur. I worked hard to ensure that my pics were not blown out, but they are paler than some of the pics. I don't know if sun exposure has an effect on flower color. My plants are growing in a terrarium under fluorescent lights and the stalks quickly posed a problem (tallest reached 27"/68cm). I rearranged the plants so this one was at one end and then allowed the stalks to exit the tank. Since the flowers grow towards light, I hung a fluorescent flood light above them to entice them upwards. So, even though the flowers did have exposure to light, it was much less than outside. Edited April 2, 2010 by RL7836

[James O'Neill]

I though U.bisquamata had larger flowers - with a large purple petal?

Utricularia are the gems of our colections!

[Sean Spence]

Fresh seeds that I legally imported from a Brazilian grower took 3 weeks to move through the mail system & weren't viable on arrival.

No luck.

I myself had better luck and the seedlings of this beautifully coloured form are coming along nicely- already producing the aerial stolons. Not surprisingly, mine arrived alot quicker.

[Tim Caldwell]

I though U.bisquamata had larger flowers - with a large purple petal?

Utricularia are the gems of our colections!

Some varieties of U. bisquamata are more spectacular than others. You might be thinking of a variety called "Betty's Bay".

You should check out Carnivorous Plants Photo Finder (and bookmark it). It's a fantastic resource with photos of just about every species of CP:

http://www.cpphotofinder.com/Utricularia.html

Cheers,

Tim

[Tim Caldwell]

As they can't be imported without perishing, unfortunately you couldn't even if you could afford one.

That's good - I can be even more serious now about not giving into the temptation :-)

I've never actually tried importing plants - is our customs here rigorous enough to spoil the whole idea - and is the shock of moving from a European season to an Aussie one likely to be the last straw for a plant? Or is it really just the sensitive (and/or expensive) plants I need to worry about?

[Sean Spence]

I've never actually tried importing plants - is our customs here rigorous enough to spoil the whole idea - and is the shock of moving from a European season to an Aussie one likely to be the last straw for a plant? Or is it really just the sensitive (and/or expensive) plants I need to worry about?

Customs have little to do with the importation of plants, Quarantine are the department that are involved. All plants require treatment with Methyl Bromide gas to eliminate insect pests. This gas melts any of the softer tissued plants such as Drosera and Utricularia. Genera such as Sarracenia and Nepenthes cope far better.

[jimscott]

Beautiful flowers and great picture resolution!

[RL7836]

Ok - I started this thread on April 1st - today is May 19th & my U. longifolia are still blooming! The plant with the 1st blooms in this thread still has 4 beautiful flowers & at least one more on the way. Two other plants are still flowering - but not with as many. Here's a pic from today...

As you can see from the swollen seedpod, all of the previous flowers on this stalk were pollinated. Counting the one that's about to open, there are/were nine flowers on this stalk.