Utricularia babui - 2 generations

[Sebulon]

Hello,

I've grown this plant from seeds I received about 2 years ago. It's supposed to be annual, but has grown in my terraium for the same 2 years now that I've had it. It flowers without any certain timing, usually with 2-3 flowerscapes. It can be self pollinated easily with toothpicks or something similar, I have never failed selfing it. It creates a lot of pollen, even though the flower is small, you can see large clumps on the toothpick while pollinating it. It also creates a lot of seeds that easily take off and start growing, if the temperatures are high enough. The only problem are gnat larvae, that can kill the seedlings. Anyways, I had this strange thing happen today. I have 2 generations flowering at he same time, and strangely, the flowers are of very different color. The parent plant has these nice deep blue flowers, but the child plant has this purplish appearance on it.

F1 is the parent, and f2 is the child.

Same flowers with flash.

So, which flower color is the more typical one? I like the blue one better, so I hope the other child plants don't produce these violet flowers. :)

Greetings,

Jarkko

[jimscott]

Pretty flowers!

[Dieter]

Hi Jarkko,

that is very interesting. I am sure Andreas Fleischmann will comment this observation sooner or later...

As I sowed my own seeds always in spring, I never had two generations flowering side by side.

The pictures showing the plants and flowers in the natural habitat show plants with blue flowers. But then, I have seen other species varying their flower colour e.g. depending on the growing conditions (like U. rostrata ranging from white to purple).

U. babui usually dies in winter in my hands. It is good to see that yours get older as it is quite a job to regrow this one from seeds each year. The seeds germinate easily, so not much problem on this end, but it needs more effort than many other species.

Best regards

Dieter

[Andreas Fleischmann]

Hello! (and thanks to Fernando for pointing out this interesting topic to me!)

Exactly the same happens with some Utricularia flowers for me from time to time. Flowers of U. rostrata, U. blanchetii, U. babui and many others, which are produced in summer (hot temperatures, a lot of strong sunlight) are much paler, compared to the flowers of the same plants appearing in spring and autumn. The drop of temperatures at night contributes to this: reddish and blueish flower colours of most plants result from anthocyanines, which are accumulated like other sugars in the plant's cells. The more difference between day temperature (photosynthesis) and night temperate (carbon metabolism), the less sugars and anthocyanes are consumed by the plant at night (because carbon metabolism activity is influenced by temperatue). That's why in autumn, the leaves of many perennial plants get a nice reddish or bronze colouration (not the leaves of deciduous trees that are shed during fall, but the leaves of perennial herbs, like the venus flytrap). And it's the same for reddish and blueish flower colours: they are more intense in autunm and spring. And for exactly the same reason, flower colours are more stronge and bright in alpine regions than in the lowlands.

All the best,

Andreas

PS: the "normal" colour of U. babui is a deep ink blue.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Andreas Fleischmann

[RL7836]

That's why in autumn, the leaves of many perennial plants get a nice reddish or bronze colouration (not the leaves of deciduous trees that are shed during fall, but the leaves of perennial herbs, like the venus flytrap).

Andreas,

Thanks for sharing this explanation - I've always noticed this for both VFTs & Cephs in the fall when temps drop ...

[Sebulon]

Hello! (and thanks to Fernando for pointing out this interesting topic to me!)

Exactly the same happens with some Utricularia flowers for me from time to time. Flowers of U. rostrata, U. blanchetii, U. babui and many others, which are produced in summer (hot temperatures, a lot of strong sunlight) are much paler, compared to the flowers of the same plants appearing in spring and autumn. The drop of temperatures at night contributes to this: reddish and blueish flower colours of most plants result from anthocyanines, which are accumulated like other sugars in the plant's cells. The more difference between day temperature (photosynthesis) and night temperate (carbon metabolism), the less sugars and anthocyanes are consumed by the plant at night (because carbon metabolism activity is influenced by temperatue). That's why in autumn, the leaves of many perennial plants get a nice reddish or bronze colouration (not the leaves of deciduous trees that are shed during fall, but the leaves of perennial herbs, like the venus flytrap). And it's the same for reddish and blueish flower colours: they are more intense in autunm and spring. And for exactly the same reason, flower colours are more stronge and bright in alpine regions than in the lowlands.

All the best,

Andreas

PS: the "normal" colour of U. babui is a deep ink blue.

Yeah, thanks a lot for this information! I hope it flowers a lot during the winter, because it's flowering a lot right now with these pinkish flowers. The ink blue flowers are much prettier. :)

Greetings,

Jarkko