Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 22:41:11 GMT From: Phil <cp@pwilson.demon.co.uk> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg91$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: ?D.peltata?
In your message dated Saturday 4, January 1997 you wrote :
> In message <199701032340.AA007704833@jr.hpl.hp.com> cp@hplb.hpl.hp.com writes:
> dave evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> writes:
> ...
> > Anyway, the first one flowered today and I tried out Jan's
> > new Drosera key. This is when my HEADACHE started. (it's still
> > going strong, BTW.) I was able to count six green yet hairy
> > sepals and six petals but in the time from moving the plant out
> > from under the light and counting the petals, the flower closed.
> > I put it back under the lights, it re-openned. I took it back
> > out and it closed up again, just after I got a glimpse inside!
> > Anyway, there are only two flowers and Jan's key calls for
> > around ten. What I did come up with is D.salina... The petals
> > are white, and I've been told that D.peltata is always pink.
>
> I've heard of white-flowering D.peltata (though mine are all
> pink,) - these might be misidentified, but it's quite a variable
> species, I guess because it ranges so far. Perhaps you've got a
> Japanese or NZ plant, which I'd expect to show the most divergence
> from the norm. I doubt it's D.salina - this one's a flat rosette
> producing a much shorter climbing stem - no more than 3 or 4 inches
> compared to twice that or more for D.peltata (I've got one that's 13
> inches tall ATM!, but that's unusual.) Lowrie also shows D.salina as
> being 5-petalled and 5-staminate, so it would be as abberant for this
> species as D.peltata. I've not kept this one long enough to flower,
> so I can't comment on variation in floral structures.
> I also find more variety in D.peltata flowering than the books or
> Jan's key indicates - anything from 0 to 10 or so flowers per plant,
> though the flowers may not all appear at once, and it doesn't appear
> to be consistent by original location or even individual tuber, but
> rather (probably,) a response to cultivation conditions.
> The sepals sound more like peltata too - D.salina has glabrous sepals
> according to Lowrie, while peltata's are dotted with terete-stalked
> glands.
>
Dave, Peter, Jan,
There certainly are white flowered plants of D. peltata. Plants from the South
Australia area are green in colour, seem to be generally more robust and
vigorous and have white flowers. The form which grows in Western Australia seems
to be smaller, less vigorous and has a reddish colour. So weak is the Western
Australian plant that I have never yet managed to keep it for more than one
season.
I have no experiance with the Japanese plants but the New Zealand plants also
have subtle differences. Mainly the stem and the foliage are more delicate but
the plants are as tall growing (if not taller) than their South Australian
cousins. All my New Zealand plants have pink flowers.
Regarding the number of flowers on a plant, this will inevitably vary according
to the age of the plant and it's general condition. I would suggest that your
plant is probably either a juvenille or it did not react as well as it should to
being uprooted. From seed D. peltata can be pretty vigorous. I have had plants
flower in the same year that they germinated - almost unheard of in the tiberous
Drosera world.
Regarding the differences between D. auriculata and D. peltata I would agree
that sepal difference (glabrous D. auriculata, hairy D. peltata) is consistent.
However, the appearence of a basal rosette is not (IMO) a consistent indicator.
I have not only plants of D. auriculata which produce a basal rosette but I also
have plants which will produce one in some years and in other years won't.
-- Phil Wilson (cp@pwilson.demon.co.uk)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:30:58 PST