>Hinode Kadan (the japanese outfit) is selling the following varieties of
>VFT..
>D.muscipula muscipula, erecta, linearis, filiformis.
>
>They don't specify ssp. or forma or anything, but as Jan would tell us,
>they'd all be invalid anyway!
You are right, essentially. These (with the exception of the autonym, of
course) are names published as nomina nuda (without type and Latin
description/diagnosis after 1935: CLEMESHA, CARNIV.PL.NEWSL.3:22 (1974)) at
the rank of form.
>But nothing about all-red plants. But then in the catalogue from
>Nature et Paysages, specifically Plantes Carnivores Annee 1992, the following
>plants are listed...
>Dionaea ssp muscipula
>Dionaea f. prostratus
>Dionaea f. filiformis
>Dionaea f. viridis
>Dionaea f. atrorubeus
>With prices ranging ranging from 40--65 FF
Delicious! Most of these combinations are new to science (invalid, however...).
Just some comments:
1. In the form as written above, they are not even *names* in the sense
of the ICBN: an infraspecific combination like f. or ssp. does *always*
consist of generic, specific (this has obviously been omitted above),
and infraspecific name. 2. _Dionaea_ is doubtlessly *female* (Venus!!),
which characteristic is inherited to all infraspecific taxa, too. Thus,
the correct spelling must be: _D.muscipula_f.prostrata_ and
_D.m.f.atrorubra_ (deep red) or _D.m.f.atrorubens_ (becoming deep red).
In any case this epithet does not only have a wrong Latin termination
but it is also a misprint above (rubeus being an orthographic variant of
_Rubus_, a genus of Rosaceae, which is obviously not alluded to in this
case).
>I don't speak french, but it doesn't take too much to realize that the last
>entry is probably of interest to you, Richard. So I include the
>description of the plant in their catalogue (which lists the plant at 55 FF).
>
>>Dionaea muscipula f. atrorubeus (Nord Caroline)
>>- Forme proche de muscipula prostatus dont le centre des
>> feuilles est teinte' de rouge grenat.
>
>I haven't the slightest idea what that means, but I'd guess maybe something
>like "Rare form of prostrate VFT. The leaf petioles are tinted with
>grenadine red." Just a guess....
Nearly:
"
Dionaea muscipula f. atrorubens (North Carolina)
- A form close to D. muscipula prostrata, the centre of the leaves of which is
tinted with garnet (grenadine) red.
"
Note the serious modification of the original spelling of the "scientific
names", but it would have caused pain in my fingers if I had to type them
like above (male _Dionaea_; awful!). No further specification is made, i.e.
"centre des feuilles" might be only the central portion of the lamina (not
necessarily including the petiole).
Kind regards
Jan