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D. muscipula 'Royal Red'

Ok, i've been away and now i'm back. And I really really have a bone to pick. This has been bothering me for quite some time, and I just haven't been able to address it.

Every so often someone asks (that's not the part that bothers me) "What's the difference between 'Akai Ryu' and a Royal Red VFT?" And I see all sorts of answers, from they're different shades of red, to teeth patterns and growth habit.

Let's stop the confusion.

If your trap doesn't have a green band on the trap like this:

RoyalRed.jpg


Then it's most likely not a Royal Red. This is a very prominent attribute of this plant.

Very simple and easy to see.

Hope that helps someone out.
 
Ya it does I've been conned.
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But wait, how is that possible.....my plant was from the place that created itself....in Australia
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...................
 
Hey Vertigo -

Glad you're back.

Anyway, mine doesn't have that band on any of the traps & I got it from a reliable source - Dean Cook. It had the Australian packaging tag on it too. Go figure.

WildBill.
 
The band is not reliable, conditions affect it... do you mean is has the band or it does not have the band? All the pictures I have seen have the band on most traps, but it's the inner band that I have seen on them. If I ever get a Royal Red I'll be doing a full analisis of it's growth in conparison to the Dragons that is for sure
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... Dragons have pointed wings, do royals?
 
Here is the partial entry in the ICPS database:

N: $[Dionaea ' Royal Red ' {AUPBR 464}]
P: Au.Pl.Var.J.7:16 (1994)
"Distinct from other varieties (sic!) of [Dionaea muscipula {Soland. ex Ellis}] in that all parts of the plant, with the exception of the margins of the traps (see fig. 12), are dark red in colour (RHS 59A). [Dionaea muscipula {Soland. ex Ellis}] produces rosettes of petiolate (<= 85mm long), bi-lobed (<= 26mm long * <= 17 mm high), decumbent to erect leaves, the size of which varies with season. Do not exhibit any physical differences to other [Dionaea muscipula {Soland. ex Ellis}]. Green margins and red inner surfaces of the trap are characteristics common to both [Dionaea 'Royal Red' {AUPBR 464}] and the normal form of [Dionaea muscipula {Soland. ex Ellis}], and it is the colour of the other plant parts which make [Dionaea 'Royal Red' {AUPBR 464}] distibctive. Plants in winter dormancy and those grown in conditions of low light may lose some of the red pigmentation (as do most other carnivorous plants), but still retain appreciably more red pigment than typical [Dionaea muscipula {Soland. ex Ellis}]."
 
yup yup
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that sounds correct to me. Too bad a red dragon grown in lower light levels mimics this :p
 
'Royal Red' does indeed have a green margin to the traps, but as has already been stated, so does 'Akai Ryu' when grown in less than full sun.

One characteristic that UK growers have pointed out to me, about 'Royal Red', is that each trap lobe only has two normal length trigger hairs with a very short hair in the middle, whereas 'Akai Ryu' has three or more normal length hairs per lobe. This certainly seems consistent amongst the UK plants I've seen, can anyone check this on their 'Royal Reds' in the US or elsewhere?

Vic
 
Hopefully if things wake up this year i'll try to get some macros of the interior of every different flytrap I own and post them all for you guys.

Hopefully.
 
  • #10
Vertigo,

Hope they wake up. I look forward to those pics. I'm always eager to learn.
 
  • #11
Lol, i don't know what to call my rejected "Royal Red" now but ......red form
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.....
 
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