Misidentified plants are basically inevitable

This weekend my friend Amir came over to see my collection. He was quite taken with the plant I've been referring to as Byblis liniflora, in part because it's a lovely plant, but also because he grows B. liniflora and mine looked nothing like his.

What a lovely plant. So delicate!

Later that evening he sent me some texts suggesting – very convincingly – that I was actually growing Byblis rorida. From growth habit to color to flower shape, it seems pretty clear that I had gotten my seeds with an incorrect ID. Luckily B. rorida isn't really self-fertile (like B. liniflora), or I might have distributed seed incorrectly as well.

I also recently flowered a plant that I've known for a couple years as Pinguicula rotundiflora × hemiepiphytica. There have been some stirrings lately that this is probably an incorrect ID, and this flower pretty much confirms it for me.

This flower is very clear in my mind.

The argument is that this plant is actually Pinguicula laueana × emarginata, and this flower seals the deal. There's no hint of Pinguicula rotundiflora anywhere in this plant, and this flower both looks intermediate to Pinguicula laueana and Pinguicula emarginata, and a great deal like the ping I have that came identified as a hybrid of such. It's good to know I guess!

In that same pot I placed a leaf I received as the same hybrid. It is clearly not.

Call it Pinguicula unknownii.

I don't know what it is, so I assume it's a Pinguicula moranensis (hah). I basically need to flower this plant to have any idea what it is, and even then a diagnosis is going to be tough. I'll probably give this one away to someone who doesn't know about carnivorous plants and won't care about the ID.

How does stuff like this happen? Partly because plant IDs are mostly a loooooong game of telephone, especially for plants that primarily circulate in the hobby through trading, rather than by being produced in nurseries. Very few hobbyists actually have the training to go read a species description, analyze some herbarium specimens, and make an independent ID. Changing labels can be very risky, since sometimes plants can look very different in different conditions. Generally I think people should keep the tags they received unless they're very very confident in changing them. That can just introduce more problems into people's labels.

Some of you who have read the blog may remember when I "rediscovered" a cultivar called Drosera capillaris 'Emerald's Envy'. It's one of my favorite plants!

It's so pretty and jewel-like. What a nice plant!

I did a lot of work before I felt comfortable changing the labels. I tracked down a couple different rumors I'd heard, and even reached out to the person who wrote the cultivar and tried to trace my plants to him (I couldn't quite draw the line all the way, but he felt that my plants matched the ones he wrote up years ago). I'm glad I did the work, because it's nice having a cultivar designation to go along with a nice plant.

I know I'm getting a bit crazy when I'm considering buying monographs to see if I can independently key out difficult species in my cultivation. I guess that's the way these things end up.

Assorted plant stuff

One can't always have a nice themed post. This is one of those times.

My Pinguicula laueana × emarginata is blooming again.

Lovely flower of P. laueana × emarginata.

This has got a really pretty flower. It's interesting, I've only ever flowered this plant, my Pinguicula gigantea, and my Pinguicula emarginata. I don't know what triggers flowering in pings. I've got several that I think are big enough to flower, but they just haven't.

In pygmy news, there are finally gemmae forming on my Drosera scorpioides.

D. scorpioides gemmae is quite the hot item.

I think I'm going to need to start a new pot of these guys or risk losing these to attrition. Should get a good crop though, last year I had a lot.


The Drosera barbigera look funny and squashed with their gemmae.

Funny smooshed plants.

Such nice color this time of year too.

Drosera burmannii (Gunung Keledang) is growing in, and isn't quite as red as it was before.

One can never have enough Drosera burmannii.

I quite like this form, especially if it maintains that green leaf, red tentacle coloration. It's taken well to feeding.

My Byblis liniflora continues to be lovely, and continues to be impossible to photograph.

This plant is very dream-like.

I feel like this would need to be in a black box with bright diffused light to photograph well. Has anyone out there managed to get a good picture of B. liniflora? I'd love tips.

Finally, I haven't posted about Pinguicula rotundiflora lately, but it is way too cute.

Look at those cute little leaf margins!

Now this is a plant that I want to flower. Luckily this one is pretty easy to propagate, as evidenced by all the babies in the pot. Maybe I can have a whole bunch in flower together. That would be adorable.

So I guess that's what's up around here.

Year-to-year comparisons

Growing plants gives one patience. I was never really into plants before I started growing carnivores, and I couldn't imagine the time frames people were talking about – 2 to 8 weeks to germinate seed, a year from germination to flowering maturity. It seemed like everything took forever, and I was super anxious. It's not like that now. I'm more likely to think stuff like, "Wow, it's only been a year. That grew quickly!" I think that this sort of comfort with longer time frames is probably one of the most positive effects that dealing with plants can have on one's life over all.

In any case, I went back through some old posts from last January to see what's been going on. Drosera sessilifolia is a pretty dramatic case.

D. sessilifolia seedlings, 1-26-2015.

D. sessilifolia, 1-9-2016.

How's that for a year's growth? Feed your Drosera! They will reward you for it. This is a great little plant. I'm feeding heavily so that I can show Fernando at the upcoming BACPS meeting.

A plant that doesn't get as much play on the blog lately is Pinguicula laueana × emarginata. It's been a bit buried in the collection for the last year, but I dug it out for this post.

P. laueana × emarginata, 1-23-2015.

P. laueana × emarginata, 1-9-2016.

It's in the same pot, for scale – a little 2-inch nursery pot that I really need to do something about. I don't know what happened to that plantlet that's visible in the top picture. Beautiful plant though!

One plant that was the real dark horse of the last year is this clone of Drosera capensis.

D. capensis "stemmy clone", 1-19-2015.

D. capensis "stemmy clone", 1-9-2016.

I received this in a trade as a broadleaf form of D. capensis and didn't think much of it (the leaves are a little bit broad, but nothing crazy). However, in one year of growth it produced a quite attractive, sturdy stem, and is now looking really cool. I posted a picture similar to the lower photo to my Instagram (follow me @sundews_etc on Instagram!) and people liked it a lot. Unexpected favorite!

A funny case during the last year is the saga of my first Drosera aliciae, which was stricken by aphids. The growth point split, and it looked really weird.

D. aliciae, 1-8-2015.

D. aliciae, 1-9-2016.

Now it still looks weird, but it also looks cool as heck. Look at it! I think I'm going to bring this plant to the BACPS winter meeting to show off. Another situation where neglect produced excellent results (once the aphids were beaten back).

Finally, a cautionary tale: I got a Dionaea 'B-52' in August of 2014, and a couple leaves fell off in transit. I decided to try them as pullings, and one of them really took off.

Dionaea 'B-52' plantlets, 1-27-2015.

Dionaea 'B-52' plantlets, 1-9-2016.

Why is this a cautionary tale? Because my original plant died! It was a terrible summer, and that nice big D. 'B-52' was one of the casualties. If those leaves hadn't fallen off I doubt I would have thought to take a pulling. I've said it before, but propagation is insurance. It's risky to have only one plant or one pot of a given species/cultivar/clone. I don't always follow my own advice, but you should propagate ASAP after receiving a new plant. You never know what might happen!

It's been a good year. I've got big plans for the next one as well. Those plants won't grow themselves!

Pinguicula laueana x emarginata in bloom

Ping flowers are great. My Pinguicula laueana x emarginata has opened up.

This is a very bold flower for such a cute plant.

My girlfriend said this one looked like religious iconography. I can see it, with the blocky shapes and the cool venation. The plant itself is also looking great.

They've responded well to being fed.

That little offset is getting bigger. Also, check out the spur on the flower.

Nearby, the Pinguicula esseriana are coloring up and looking adorable.

These have such a nice little stacked rosette.

I traded one of the plants in a big trade (that I'll talk about soon), but these two are getting really pink and it's adorable.

Another pink ping thing is this little leaf pulling from Pinguicula 'Pirouette'.

Teeny tiny plantlets!

This pulling was stupid easy. It makes me want to propagate more pings.

Speaking of flowers, the Drosera anglica CA x HI from the Summer Batch is blooming.

This looks like it's gonna be a pretty big bloom.

That's a pretty quick turnaround from leaf cutting to mature plant. I'm gonna sow these seeds to see what comes up. Apparently selfing this guy will show a decent amount of variation, so I'll have to sow some seeds and see.

Finally, I've got a project out in the backyard.

Things are brewing.

More updates as events warrant.

Progress shots from the Pygmy Garden

Things are really starting to get going over in the Pygmy Garden.

The Pygmy Garden is starting to actually look like a garden now.

You can start seeing distinct patches developing. I'm really looking forward to seeing this a few months down the road once everything has filled in. Let's get in close!

Drosera omissa (center) surrounded by other species.

Drosera silvicola getting that stem going.

Deep red Drosera x Carbarup.

The prettiest one in the bunch so far, Drosera x Dork's Pink.

I'm definitely glad I drew up this map when I was first creating the garden. It's a bit rough, but it was enough for me to figure out which was which. There are so many pygmies in this garden! I can't even imagine how cute it's going to be when some of them start blooming.

Speaking of blooms, I've got a little something developing on my Pinguicula laueana x emarginata.

My first-ever bloom on a ping other than Pinguicula gigantea.

I was just thinking earlier about how I want to pot this up into something bigger. Now I guess I'll wait at least until it's done flowering. I'm excited!

Drosera venusta back in action

My Drosera venusta was looking a little so-so for a while, but recently it has been doing a lot better. It's even got a new flower stalk.

Looking less fried than it did during summer. Maybe it was the heat.

The last couple stalks it made aborted for some reason, but this one is growing all the way up into the lights.

I moved it just in time.

That means it's time for a move! I decided to have it take the place of my Pinguicula laureana x emarginata, which isn't going to need very much vertical room. I also decided to pull out those Utricularia bisquamata flowers, because as much as I find it to be a charming weed, I'd prefer it not set seed all over my collection.

Speaking of weeds, while I was shuffling around the plants to make room from the D. venusta I bumped my Drosera capensis red form flower stalk.

Hope I don't get too many D. capensis red form seedlings everywhere.

Dang! I took a pause from shuffling plants to harvest some D. capensis red form seed (and also, while I was at it, some D. capensis 'Albino'). Those seeds will be available for sale soon.

In any case, I got it all set up, and now I'm ready for it to bloom and set seed. Exciting!

Beauty shot!

Pinguicula roundup, November 2014

Besides sundews I have a reasonable collection of Sarracenia and Utricularia. I also have a small collection of Pinguicula – one which I'm hoping to expand in the future. Pings are easily the most adorable of carnivorous plants, with a gooey charm all their own.

Pinguicula gigantea was my first ping, and it has been offsetting quite nicely.

The little plantlet has to really stretch to get light.

That little guy off to the left is the newest growth point. I really need to divide and re-pot this plant. This is one of the few Mexican butterworts that doesn't have a non-carnivorous winter dormancy. It's also one of the only ones with mucilage on the bottom of the leaves as well as the top.

On the opposite side of the size spectrum are my Pinguicula "Yucca Doo 1717", a selection from New Mexico that is really cute.

They're buddies!

Mature plants from this selection are really pretty, with nice scalloped leaf edges. They've grown pretty nicely since I received them several months ago.

Also on the small side are these Pinguicula lusitanica, which are dead.

This is another one of those "liverwort and moss" pots.

These are supposed to be an annual that will sprout, mature, set seed, and die all within a few months. I received 5 plants, 2 of which bloomed and all of which have since died. I keep holding out for seedlings, but so far all I've got is a sundew in the bottom left of the pot. We'll see.

My newest ping is a hybrid, Pinguicula laureana x emarginata.

Lovely colors on this hybid.

This guy has great coloration, and is fairly large. It is in a pretty small pot though, and I don't want to end up drowning it with the water level in the tray. Another re-potting job for when I have the time.

Finally, I think my prettiest ping right now is this Pinguicula moranensis GG from California Carnivores.

So precious! This is one of my favorite plants.

It's a beautiful greenish pink color, and is developing quite a handsome rosette shape. When I got it it only had 2 leaves, so apparently it likes my conditions. This is definitely one I'll want to propagate once it gets a bit bigger.

Pings are great.