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Drosera admirabilis - sp 'floating'


Christian

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Hi,

Today i could take pictures of the flowers of these two plants. Here they are.

admirabilis_DROS69_013.jpg admirabilis_DROS69_001.jpg

Drosera admirabilis 'Ceres'

sp_floating_DROS16_013.jpg sp_floating_DROS16_015.jpg

Drosera sp 'floating'

I think it is good to see, that the the stigmas of both plants are different. If someone has a flower picture of Drosera cuneifolia, i would really like to see it!

Christian

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Very nice Christian. It is obvious that these two are very closely related. The flower structure is very similar but as you say, the stigmas are slightly different.

You beat me to asking whether anybody out there has a photo of a Drosera cuneifolia flower. I can't say that I have ever seen one.

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Guest Aidan

I'm not looking to start a huge taxonomic argument, but is there really enough of a difference to separate these two plants? From what I can discern, the difference between the stigmata is minimal.

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The D. sp. "floating" is in my opinion only a form/variation of Drosera admirabilis which in turn is very closely related to D. cuneifolia. It is very similar but at the same time slightly different- I have learnt to appreciate these subtle differences- another form to add to the collection. The rosettes when mature do appear different too, more so than what the photo illustrates- neither plant appears to be mature from what I can tell, the D. admirabilis definitely isn't.

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Hi,

I think taxonomically, D. sp 'floating' is only a Variant/Form (or whatever) of Drosera admirabilis. I think sticking to the name Drosera sp 'floating' is a good idea, nevertheless - just to separate if from other D. admirabilis. Drosera sp 'floating' grows about 100km north from other populations of Drosera admirabilis. It is found in shallow creek beds where it has to cope with some centimeters of water. In this situation it builds up long stems, tobring the rosetes above the water level. My own experiments will start soon ;)

Yes, both plants are not yet adult. The pictures are also a bit older. I will take some of my flowering plants soon and post them as well.

Christian

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Hello!

Nice photographs, Christian!

First of all, here's some photographs of flowers of D.cuneifolia you wanted! ;-) It's the smaller flowers of the plants originating from the Tablemountain, those of the Silvermine plants are at least twice the size! Unfortunately, the Silvermine cuneifolia isn't flowering for me every year. Last time was 2 years ago (I didn't have a digital camera at this time! ;-))

IMG_3788.jpg_D_cuneifolia_fl02.jpg

Note that the bifid styles of D.cuneifolia are only branched once at the tip, whereas they are branched several times in the D.admirabilis forms!

D_cuneifolia02.jpg

About 5 year old plant of D.cuneifolia form the Tablemontain area. (Sorry if I already posted this picture, I'm not sure if it was in the German forum or here in the UK forum!)

Me too, I do agree that the D.spec. 'floating' is indeed a form of D.admirabilis.

BTW, the D.admirabilis from the type location (which is in the Palmietriver region) has bright pink flowers (but not with a darker marginal area as in D. spec. 'floating'!!), whereas the other forms that are commonly cultivated (originating either from Ceres or the Tablemontain area) have dark lilac petals!

_D_admirabilis_type_fl01.jpg

Compare the lenght of the styles with the "D.spec. 'floating'" called form of D.admirabilis!

_D_spec_floating_fl01.jpg

_D_spec_floating_fl02.jpg

Moreover, the D.spec. 'floating'-admirabilis has maroon coloured leaves, the rosettes may even turn dark red in full sun! The leaves of D.abmirabilis from Palmietriver, Ceres and Tablemontain always stay dark green, the type form from Palmietriver having bright red tentacles, the other 2 forms bear dark purple ones.

_D_spec_floating_02.jpg

D.spec. 'floating' cultivated under slightly shaded conditions.

_D_spec_floating.jpg

Juvenile plants of the same species grown in unshaded greenhouse.

2 years ago, I received seeds labelled as "D.aliciae 'Baines Kloof' " from a friend grower. These plants turned out to be another strange form of D.admirabilis, close to the spec. 'floating' thing, but differing in having narrower, dark pink petals and dark red and very short styles.

_D_admirabilis_BK.jpg

Just from looking at the rosette of the plant, you can see that this one isn't a D.aliciae at all, but more closely related to the D.admirabilis forms!

_D_admirabilis_BK_fl01.jpg

_D_admirabilis_BK_fl02.jpg

Andreas

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Wow, that shot of D. cuneifolia on top of the previous years growth is fantastic.

It is great to finally see a photo of the flower of D. cuneifolia. You can clearly see the difference between that species and D. admirabilis.

I am now a little confused. I grow the small form with dark lilac flowers (similar in colour to D. slackii) that has leaves which turn quite red in good light (particularly the outer half of the leaf). Is this plant likely to be the form from Table Mountain? I'll track down a photo of the rosette and flowers.

Also, the plants I grow labelled as forms from "Palmiet River" and "Ceres" are almost identical in form and colouration of the rosettes and flowers. Are the differences between the 2 easily identified? Is it likely that the 2 that I grow are actually the same form? Will also post photos of these.

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Hi Sean!

I cannot see any differences in my D.admirabilis from Ceres and the Tablemontain, they are propably the same form. But the one from Palmietriver (you got your plants via Stefan Ippenberger, right? ;-) Then the plants from Palmietriver should be lablelled "Holo-Type", "Holo-admirabilis" or something like that! ;-)) is clearly differnet in colouration of both rosette and flower (like mentioned above)! I'm going to show you photographs for comparision soon!

Andreas

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  • 9 months later...

Hello,

Better late than never. Here are some pictures of Drosera admirabilis/Drosera cuneifolia i am growing:

admirabilis_DROS69_012.jpg admirabilis_DROS69_010.jpg

admirabilis_DROS69_016.jpg admirabilis_DROS69_019.jpg

Drosera admirabilis 'Ceres'

(the last picture was taken after repotting - so the plants do not look too good)

admirabilis_DROS214_001.jpg

Drosera admirabilis - Holotypelocation

admirabilis_DROS6_008.jpg

a form without known origin

cuneifolia_DROS79_011.jpg

Drosera cuneifolia - Silvermine

cuneifolia_DROS81_001.jpg cuneifolia_DROS81_005.jpg

Drosera cuneifolia - Table Mountains

and finally, a side by side comaprison of Drosera admirabilis 'Ceres' and Drosera cuneifolia 'Table Mountain'

admirabilis_DROS69_018.jpg

Christian

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That D. cuneifolia from Table Mountain really is an impressive plant. Is it correct that the Silvermine form actually grows larger than this form? My Silvermine plants are struggling through summer at the moment but hopefully will kick on when the days cool down in a month or so. Unfortunately the roots of the Table Mountain form I had are no longer- they didn't survive the summer heat. :cry:

I'd take and post some photos of my D. admirabilis and D. cuneifolia plants at the moment but this summer has not been kind to them and all are very unimpressive after looking sensational towards the end of last spring. Bring on the cold weather!

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Last year I was given seeds of D. admirabilis and I now have plants that are only ~.5" in diameter. What diameter are your plants? Are mine too small or too young to flower this year?

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Hello,

If my memories do not fail, i remember from a lecture dealing with south-african CPs, held at one of our last meetings, that the plants of Drosera cuneifolia from Table Mountain are indeed smaller than those from Silvermine, at least in their habitat. In cultivation they are both equally large. If this is not true, please correct me!

Drosera cuneifolia occasionaly dies back. For me, this is especially the case with the silvermine form.

I think, it is best to use as deep pots as possible for Drosera cuneifolia. At repotting i had to find out, that one of my plants had roots about 40cm long.

Christian

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Guest Sheila
1/2" in diameter - real tiny.

Sorry, I didn't notice the decimal point in front of the five :oops:

I think they may need to be a bit bigger than that to flower, but you never know, once the new growing season gets under way they may catch up to being a bit closer to full grown and flower later in the year.

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It may depend on which form you are growing Jim. The small growing form I have only grows to around an inch in diameter and can flower before it gets to that size.

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Oh.... I see... That raises more questions and I don't have a photo of what I have. no way to trace it to any real source. About how old does a plant need to be in order to flower? mine are almost a year old.

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