Is this normal?

[Drosera36]

A few months ago, I received a D. aliciae plant off e-bay, and it was under the size of a quarter, pretty small. I put it into a terrarium, and it grew to well over its original size, but it was pretty pale, and I realized it could use some more light. So, I put it outside on my balcony, where it gets several hours of light a day. Originally, it got sunburn, frost bite, drought, and all that fun stuff, but it began growing. It grew pretty well, and got much redder. But when I came back from my month long vacation, the plant was greenish, kinda stressed looking, and had two flower stalks on it. Here's where the weird stuff begins.

I noticed that the flower stalk was only about 5 inches tall; in the SG, it said that the stalk is usually over a foot tall for D. aliciae. When the first flower opened, it was almost one inch across! While, once again, in the SG and everywhere else, it states that the flower should be about a half inch across. Also, the flower opened very early in the day, around 8:30 am or so, and remained open until around maybe 4:00 in the afternoon. Now, is this stressed induced, or is it "normal"? Here are some pics:

Some pics of the plant:

And the flower:

What the heck is going on here?!

-Ben

 

[mabudon]

Hmmm.. dunno about the flower size... the stalk (scape??) is shaped right for D.aliciae from all I know, kinda wiggly, and it looks like it has the sticky on it, which I notice on mine when it flowers

Might just be the clone you're growing that is slightly off-typical...

Also the develpoing leaves in the centre look a tad odd, usually they are more hariy from what I've seen...

I don't think it's anything to worry about though.

Nice pic with the ruler, too, that's a pretty sharp camera

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

My gut level feeling is this is likely not D. aliciae. The lamina are too abbreviated. So while this plant is not abnormal it is atypical for the species. Very nicely grown plant it is too! Some of the flower details are rather like D. aliciae, like the stigma...can you show me a side view of the scape with some buds showing? It is a lot like D. dielsiana varieties I have grown in the past, and in this I have found the details of style division to be rather useless as a criteria for determination with D. dielsiana, and yours is atypocal here as well. See the puckering of the lamina? This is a feature found in D. dielsiana, D. admirabilis, D. cuneifolia and D. slackii...and although demonstrated somewhat in D. aliciae it isn't as noticible as in your photo. As I am sure you are aware, most of the South African Drosera are ready hybridizers within the common karyotypes, so there is a LOT of variation in the field and also in private collections where hybrid seed often is formed and distributed without the owner being aware.

 

[Drosera36]

Thanks a lot for replying, guys! Is it really that healthy looking? For some reason, I never thought it to be all that nice looking. I got this plant off e-bay from some guy who grew it from seed I think and said that it was near flowering size. I guess it is now. It would be cool if it is a hybrid. But, what I don't understand is why the flower is open for so many hours? I thought Drosera flowers only open for a few hours at a time. Anyways, thanks for your help. I'll get some more pics of the plant and its flowers tommorow.

-Ben

 

[Christian Dietz]

Hi Ben,

i am with William and think, that your plant is not a Drosera aliciae. Some forms of Drosera admirabilis have such large flowers as you described, but this species doesn't such have laminas as the plant in you photo. The styles seem to fit D. admirabilis as well. Drosera dielsiana might be a possibility, but the flowers do not really conform to the plants i grow as this species. The division of the styles, is not the best help to identify this species. In the protocoll to D. dielsiana, Exell & Laundon do not even say something of the styles apexes. It is only mentioned there, that the styles are divided at the base (which is true for many (the most) Drosera species).

Can you provide larger pictures of the flowers? If you get seeds, they might be a good help too. I would also like to see the stipules.

Christian

 

[Drosera36]

How are these pics?

-Ben

 

[Christian Dietz]

Hi,

this looks pretty much like D. admirabilis. I am tending towards this species.

Some pictures of my plants: http://www.utricularia.net/drosera/admirabilis1.htm

Christian

 

[Drosera36]

Thanks, Christian. But I was wondering, does it look like my plant needs more light, or is it ok?

-Ben