Plain and simple: This is absolutely, positively NOT true! I have been breeding and growing vft for decades...yes that's at least 20 years and seed produced from a red piranha will produce red piranha-ish plants and seed produced from dente will produce dente-ish plants and seed produced from red dragon and green dragon will produce red dragon-ish and green dragon-ish plants.[b said:Quote[/b] (BigCarnivourKid @ Feb. 15 2006,1:47)]Plain and simple: No matter what variety of VFT seed you sow, the majority of the plants that grow will look lik typical VFTs.
This article will soon be on the ICPS Web site.[b said:Quote[/b] ]In 1995 I received seedlings of dentate Venus Flytraps (plants with triangular, toothlike marginal tentacles, or trap bars) from my friend Ivan Snyder. These were f5 plants derived from a dentate Venus Flytrap that was selected by Leo Song, Jr. many years ago from a batch of wild-collected plants. The plants I received lacked red coloration, but they gave me the idea to make a dentate Venus Flytrap that was intensely red.
On June 20, 1995 I crossed the dentate Venus Flytrap that had the most triangular trap bars with a red Venus Flytrap developed in Europe. The flower was emasculated to avoid self pollination. Ivan germinated the resulting seed--all these f1 plants were green. The fastest grower (which matured in eight months) with the best dentate trap bars was selected. Its flowers were self pollinated. Of the few hundred seedlings, one quarter had red coloration--the red coloration is apparently recessive. The plants varied greatly in trap bar size and shape, but one plant in particular was just what I wanted. Because it is red and has trap bars that look like piranha teeth, I named it Dionaea 'Red Piranha'.
As with other red Venus Flytraps the intensity of red coloration varies according to cultivation and season. It has been noted by growers who cultivate it next to other popular red Venus Flytraps that its red coloration equals, if not supercedes, their red color. With the help of my friend Ivan, my idea of a dentate Venus Flytrap with red coloration became reality. Dionaea 'Red Piranha' is a beautiful flytrap deserving a place in every plant collection.
[b said:Quote[/b] (philcula @ Feb. 15 2006,3:22)]...seed produced from a red piranha will produce red piranha-ish plants and seed produced from dente will produce dente-ish plants and seed produced from red dragon and green dragon will produce red dragon-ish and green dragon-ish plants.
[b said:Quote[/b] (BigCarnivourKid @ Feb. 12 2006,4:02)]....While they occasionally pop up from seeds, the best way to insure getting the same characteristics (of the parent plant) in a new plant is to make clones of the original plant using TC or leaf cuttings.
[b said:Quote[/b] (BigCarnivourKid @ Feb. 12 2006,8:18)]....Don't give up on the seeds entirely. When it comes to genetics, you can never be sure what will happen 100% of the time. There's always a possibility of a wild card in the bunch. I selfed a red VFT of mine and all the seedlings that came up were red. Mind you, only one of them has survived <snip>, but with luck it will be as colorful if not more so than its parent.
[b said:Quote[/b] (BigCarnivourKid @ Feb. 12 2006,4:02)]...I believe, that in the case of a seedling that matches the parent plants official description, you can call it by that parent plants name. The way the rules are phrased, if a plant fits the official description of a cultivar, it can be considered that cultivar. That also means it is possible to get a plant that looks like a particular cultivar that isn't from the same crosses as the original cultivar. Sounds like a bass-ackward rule but it's the rule (until something better comes along).