The two forms of D. finlaysoniana from ICPS seedbank

[raycer491]

Hello again,

I've noticed growth differences in the two D. finlaysoniana circulated by the ICPS seedbank, labeled as "pink flower" and "white flower", respectively.

Conditions of Growth

All my plants are grown under HO T-5s, and remain about 5 inches max away from the lights. Temps are 80-90 degrees in the day and around 72 at night. Water table is around 2 inches and plants are grown in pots that can be inundated for long periods.

Differences I've Noticed

As I've grown it for the past 3 years, the white flower form of D. finlaysoniana is curiously 3 x larger (about a foot across in my experience) and less gangly than the pink flower form, with shorter intervals between the leaves and more tentacles on the stem.

The white flower form maintains around 5-6 leaves at a time, while the pink flower form in the same conditions keeps perhaps 2-3.

The pink flower form also has pink coloration along its stem and its lowest most tentacles die off with age to form a sort of petiole as the leaf ages. The white flower form keeps all of its tentacles operating along the leaf. Stems form in both taxa, but the pink usually starts climbing (akin to a nep vine) early on in growth, while the larger white form has a smaller interval between leaves.

As they reach maturity (not necessarily flowering maturity, which for both plants can be within a month of germination), they approach similar dimensions, and are distinguishable by their flowers and by, sometimes, a more yellow hue in the pink flower form and a consistent pure green hue in the white flower form. The white flower form tends to increase in size to massive proportions (over two feet, approaching 3 feet of stem plus a diameter of well over a foot) and the pink remains smaller, but I cannot recall the diameter.

Pollenated flowers' sepals turn red in the pink form and stay green in the white.

I have not tried to hybridize the two plants.

Have you seen a discrepancy between the forms?

 

[Shadowtski]

I bought Drosera finlaysoniana seed from the ICPS seedbank and all the plants had a very subtle Pink flower that got darker pink upon closure. I did not see any Red or Pink in the plant. They grew to about one foot tall by the end of Summer and had a fairly compact look,only a small space between leaves.

How long ago did you see finlaysoniana White Flower in the seedbank?

Good growing,
Mike

 

[Alita]

Huh, I have a tiny finlaysoniana with pink stems, I thought that was just because of lighting. So the white flower form doesn't turn pink in bright light then, like capensis alba?

 

[Tanukimo]

Anyone have pictures?

 

[raycer491]

Here are some pics, linked to my Flickr.

1)This one is what I suppose to be the white-flower form. It's about one month old and a foot across. Its stem approaches a bronzy color but is not the rosy hue found in the plants in the following pics.
https://flic.kr/p/NvGHb9

2)These are pink-flower plants, much older, but also densely populating the pot. They might be around 7 months old, and are grown in almost the exact same conditions as #1. The tallest barely covers 4 inches. The stems are pink.
https://flic.kr/p/Nx19Vz

3)This is a larger pink-flowered plant, growing in a deep pot. It's about six months old, and has a diameter of around 9 inches. Its stem ceased to be pink even under strong light after it reached a certain size, around 2 or so months ago.
https://flic.kr/p/NvGH1Q

4)This is from the same seed set as #3 and #2, but germinated about a month ago. The conditions I am growing these plants in are drier and sandier than the #1, but the growth still reflects that of its siblings in #2.
https://flic.kr/p/NvGGXU

5)This is an example of a colorful, pollinated, closed flower of seed gotten from the pink-flower form, though I cannot say for sure what color the flower was when it was open because I was not around to see it. Some of my plants may have hybridized with each other last summer when I kept them outside.
https://flic.kr/p/NvGGVQ

I can't help but suspect that these are different taxa, please clarify if in fact the issue is simply genetic variation.

 

[bluemax]

It is very nice to have photos to draw from. Whoa - one month old and a foot across! 'Must be some sort of record for a Drosera.

 

[hcarlton]

I wish I had gotten the white flowered form to germinate and stick around, and the pink flower form has been a pain to get to any decent size, so I can't contribute much other than to say the pink has always stayed pretty lanky for me; I have not really noticed any really notably pink stems, but the keeping of only 1-4 leaves is constant (and annoying). I have true D. indica, on the other hand, that have done fantastically and are currently in flower, about 6-8" across and pretty compact compared to the finlay and the healthy ones always have at least 6-8 leaves at any time..