Drosera admirabilis in South Africa

[Christian Dietz]

Hallo,

we found Drosera admirabilis at the Bains Kloof (= D. spec. floating, together with D. regia), close to Hermanus (together with D. slackii) and on the way up to the Table Mountain.

Christian

 

[jimscott]

Again, beautiful plants! Do they like the daily temperature fluctuation?

 

[ellisonk001]

Beautiful pictures; thanks for sharing your expedition!!!

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Thanks for taking me along too

 

[pappydew]

So are they really floating?

 

[Christian Dietz]

Hi,

i am not sure about the day/night temperature drop in the habitats. I think, at least during winter, it can get quite cold, i would not even be surprised if the temperatures can go down as low as 0°C. I can assure you, that the weather on the Table Mountain can change within minutes from warm sunshine to cold fog. In cultivation, the plants do not need a night/day drop and will do fine with normal temperature. In my opinion, they benefit from a colder winter, though.

Drosera admirabilis sp. "floating" is growing in shallow flowing water. The water level is about 2-3 cm. The plants are not really floating, as they are still fixed to the soil. They just form a stem to put the rosettes over the water. We also found examples, that have grown "normaly".

regards,
Christian

 

[CPlantaholic]

Wow, I love D. admirabilis sp. "Floating"!
Unfortunately it seems the seed I purchased as D. sp. "Floating" isn't floating after all!
Here are a few pics:
seedlings that somewhat resemble the plants in the wild

most recent (same plants) that don't look like the wild population at all...

 

[Christian Dietz]

Hi,

i am growing Drosera sp. 'floating' for severaly years now. The only good difference i see in these plants to other forms of D. admirabilis is the flower structure. The rosettes are mostly identical for my eye. I grow it like any other south african drosera, that means like a normal non-floating rosette. I never really tried to let them float

Christian

 

[marcus_r]

In case anyone else is wondering where Christian's photos went...
the answer is: here.

 

[Christian Dietz]

Hi,

yes, my weblinks all changed since 2010 and so most if not all of my pictures will not work anymore. I can restore most of them though and have just done this with the pictures in my initial post.

Christian

 

[marcus_r]

Rockstar!