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Mirror x Mirror seedling (needs a name!)


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We germinated quite a few Mirror x Mirror seedlings last year in tissue culture (in vitro). A few of them have the flanges of the mother plant 'Mirror' and some of them, like the seedling featured in the photos below, takes this "flanging" characteristic to the next level! On the seedling in the photos below, the flanging almost always occurs on both sides of the trap and on every trap. In comparison, 'Mirror' seems to only produce the flanges periodically and, at times, infrequently.

Anyway, on to the photos! Sorry for the few traps and unattractive plant...it was very recently repotted.

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And we're currently accepting suggestions for a name :)

FTS Three-Headed Monster? Cerberus is already taken, unfortunately. Ghidorah is another option. Chimera? What you got?

Edited by mmlr38
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Airavata(three-headed white elephant said to carry the Indian God Indra) ,Bael(a demon), Mercurius(a dragon : the heads represent Mercury,the moon and the sun.) Just my 3 opinions for a name, hope you like it :)

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Its a promising development but you only show two traps with these characteristics, the other traps are typical mirror traps. If this is the only plant you have showing these traps its a bit premature to get excited. You need to clone this plant and observe the frequency of the new type of trap on them over a period of time before passing this off as something significantly different to mirror. As a "mirror" plant could also produce these traps on occassions

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Its a promising development but you only show two traps with these characteristics, the other traps are typical mirror traps.

Did you look at all of the photos? All 4 of the mature traps have flanges on both sides, and even the newly forming ones too (looking closely you can see the flanges developing). And there was one dead trap that I cut off before taking the photos that had flanges on both sides as well. And I have a couple of other plants that I believe to be the same clone (when I deflasked them from tissue culture, I didn't keep track of individuals) that also have all traps showing the flanging on both sides and have had them on every trap produced all growing season.

If this is the only plant you have showing these traps its a bit premature to get excited. You need to clone this plant and observe the frequency of the new type of trap on them over a period of time before passing this off as something significantly different to mirror.

I'm not really a novice when it comes to looking over and selecting flytraps worthy of distributing Laie_97.gif The plant shown here is not yet offered for distribution, but rather a plant that looks exceptionally promising after regularly and repeatedly producing flanges on both sides of all traps all year long and I just wanted to share some photos with the community.

I currently have 3 plants that are all showing this characteristic (likely the same plant), and have done so all season since being deflasked from tissue culture over the winter. The plan is to observe these plants again next growing season while getting them in tissue culture and propagate it next year and see if it is, in fact, worth distributing. I'm quite cautious and discriminating when it comes to selecting and naming new flytraps for distribution.

As a "mirror" plant could also produce these traps on occassions

Yes, Mirror does occasionally produce flanges on both sides (see below photo):

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But I've never seen 'Mirror' produce them on every trap like the plant in the photos in the first post here does; hence the excitement!

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Did you look at all of the photos? All 4 of the mature traps have flanges on both sides, and even the newly forming ones too (looking closely you can see the flanges developing). And there was one dead trap that I cut off before taking the photos that had flanges on both sides as well.

ha flanges on both sides, I thought the characteristic was full size flanges. Even more uncertainty then as it would not be difficult to find a specimen of "mirror" with four traps with double flanges

And I have a couple of other plants that I believe to be the same clone (when I deflasked them from tissue culture, I didn't keep track of individuals) that also have all traps showing the flanging on both sides and have had them on every trap produced all growing season.

If you did not keep accurate records then the right thing to do is to assume they are not the same. To do anything else is going to result in uncertainty if you do eventually distribute them.

The plant shown here is not yet offered for distribution, but rather a plant that looks exceptionally promising after regularly and repeatedly producing flanges on both sides of all traps all year long and I just wanted to share some photos with the community.

Do you have photos of it at other times with these traps? You should keep evidence so that others can confirm your observations and to eliminate bias on your part and doubt Ion the part of others.

I currently have 3 plants that are all showing this characteristic (likely the same plant), and have done so all season since being deflasked from tissue culture over the winter.

'likely' isn't really sufficient. If there is any uncertainty then you should assume they are not the same.

The plan is to observe these plants again next growing season while getting them in tissue culture and propagate it next year and see if it is, in fact, worth distributing. I'm quite cautious and discriminating when it comes to selecting and naming new flytraps for distribution.

Its a good plan. fingers crossed that you have something that's better than "mirror" which I don't really like as I'm suspicious about these varieties that don't produce the characteristics on every trap all the time. Like that funnel trap which I personally believe is a temporary condition that has been chemically induced

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ha flanges on both sides, I thought the characteristic was full size flanges. Even more uncertainty then as it would not be difficult to find a specimen of "mirror" with four traps with double flanges

Really? I grow several hundred Mirror now, perhaps nearing 1000 specimens. I can't recall ever seen one produce four traps with double flanges all at the same time. If it is not that difficult to find, can you produce a photo of such a Mirror plant?

If you did not keep accurate records then the right thing to do is to assume they are not the same. To do anything else is going to result in uncertainty if you do eventually distribute them.

That's true. And I will only choose one to name, clone and distribute (if it turns out to be worth doing so). But in all likelihood, they are all genetically the same since there were only perhaps a dozen seeds in the bunch and these three plants are the only ones showing the flanges on both sides of the traps on all traps.

Do you have photos of it at other times with these traps? You should keep evidence so that others can confirm your observations and to eliminate bias on your part and doubt Ion the part of others.

I have only been observing this plant for one growing season and did not take other photos of the plant this year. I will likely not keep detailed photographic records of the plant throughout the growing season, but rather just observe the plant and write a description of my observations when I create the product in our store (FlytrapStore) if it comes to that point. We (FlytrapStore) have a reputation to uphold and if people started noticing that we are misrepresenting the plants we're selling, that would not be good for business. Thus we are careful to make sure that any plants we name are unique enough and have well defined characteristics that have been observed for the long term. By doing so, we have built a reputation as a reliable and truthful seller of Venus flytraps.

We're also quite conservative with which plants we name and choose to propagate. We normally germinate somewhere around 500 seeds in vitro every year and have done so for the last 6 years; very, very few of those several thousand seedlings have received a name.

Its a good plan. fingers crossed that you have something that's better than "mirror"

After watching the plant for one growing season, I'm pretty sure that it is, else I wouldn't have posted the photos here.

which I don't really like as I'm suspicious about these varieties that don't produce the characteristics on every trap all the time. Like that funnel trap which I personally believe is a temporary condition that has been chemically induced

I've seen funnel traps on Schuppenstiel as well; a genetically different, but similar, plant. And I grow several dozen Schuppenstiel x XYZ and Trichterfalle x XYZ seedlings that also produce the funnel traps. It seems to me that the "scaling" on the leaves of flytraps is genetically tied to the unusual funnel traps. I don't believe it to be any sort of temporary condition produced by chemicals, but rather a genetic abnormality that only occasionally shows. Though some of the Trichterfalle x XYZ and Schuppenstiel x XYZ seedlings seem to produce the funnel traps more often and more dependably than Trictherfalle does.

With regards to people choosing to name flytraps...while I am in agreement with the core of your beliefs that care should be taken to be sure exactly what are the growth characteristics of a given plant before naming and distributing flytraps, and that the plant should be distinctly different from other flytraps already in distribution, the fact is that there is no way for you or anyone else to prevent anyone naming any plant they wish to name. What it really comes down to is each individual grower must decide for himself or herself which plants they want in their collection. Some people want every plant with a name; others want to make sure that they're getting something unique; others only want to collect the plants that interest them enough to grow. We (FlytrapStore) are very conservative with which plants we choose to name, clone and distribute. But there would certainly be nothing "wrong" with us naming every single plant we've germinated from seed. Though doing so would only lead to confusion for our customers and make it more challenging to figure out which plants are actually unique enough to be worth obtaining from us. It is for those reasons that we are very selective when it comes to choosing to name and distribute any given flytrap.

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