Flowering!

[trashcan]

Ok, my alata flowers are finally starting open!

http://home.**********.com/trashcan/n_alata_flower.jpg

I'm pretty sure the plant is a female, but I have never "sexed" (oh that sounds horrible) a Nepenthes before. When I touch it, no pollen comes off, so I'm assuming that it's a girl. If there is more to it than this, please let me know. If you would like to see a large close up of a flower, click here (http://home.**********.com/trashcan/n_flower_close.jpg)
Any input is welcome. http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Pat

[trashcan]

PS: I'm looking for some pollen if mine is indeed a female! Please contact me if you're interested!

Pat

[Joachim]

I don't know what interesting experiments you want to do with the pollen - It's a male.... ;-)

Pollen will come off in a few days. In Peter D'Amato's "Savage Garden" you can see a ripe male plant with pollen on page 244.

Joachim

[trashcan]

Yes I have seen that picture. I have been looking around a little while, and I haven't found a picture of a female Nepenthes flower (yet). I found a site showing a comparison (in japanese) but the picture for the female flower was broken. I was assuming they look the same (but with/without pollen for male/female) because I haven't seen anything different.

Pat

I can tell you from experience http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif . My female khasiana produced flowers for the first time( about four months after I got it) on my windowsill about three weeks ago. Anyway, female flowers look similar to the males, exept the part that comes out of the sepals is uh, hmmm, well like an elongated... thing with a small structure on the end. .....Now I know how to explain it. It's like one of those beach umbrellas with a small, flat cap on the end, and four small petals( sepals) at the base. I hope that was clear.

[Joachim]

Pat,
you don't have the two fantatsic books of Clarke beeing a nepenthes fan???
Here is a picture of my female N. inermis x ventricosa flower stalk on Martin's website:
http://www.drosophyllum.com/Bilder/Nep_bluete01.jpg
It had been lying on the compost heap for two weeks when the picture was taken last year - due to a lack of pollen. I have uploaded a picture of a female flower stalk of the same plant about three months after pollination on my ********** page:
http://home.**********.com/joachim/N_inermis_x_ventricosa_flower.jpg
Joachim

[nepenthes gracilis]

http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif It's a boy! http://www.**********.com/iBhtml/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Congrats, but what are you gonna do without a female? If yours WAS female I would think life would be a little easier, you know, easier to obtain pollen as you have the seeds forming someplace in your reach, IE: your home. But anyhow, enjoy the flowers as they are an oddity.

[Parasuco]

You can sex a plant by like so... After the sepals, the male goes: stiiiiiick-LUMP then pollen.

A female goes: buuuUUUUuuulllbbb-LUMP, and i would assume the stamina is sticky...The bulbous mounting of the stamina is the ovary...

I hope I got the terminology correct, but I hope you get what i'm saying... There is a picture in CPs of the world by the Pietropalo family (hubby and wifey)...

[Jeremiah Harris]

cool flower I hope mine will flower soon then I will have pollen to ask for or pollen to give

How large are the pitchers on the alata?

[trashcan]

Mine peaked at just above 7 inches, and now have settled at consistently producing pitchers between 6 and 7 inches. There are other varieties however...

Pat

[swords]

What size pot is your large alata in?

Any idea of it's age?

[trashcan]

I honestly have no idea how old the plant is.. The pot size is approximately 5" in diameter (I hope I haven't mixed radius and diameter again), and six inches deep (roughly). I just removed it from the pot, and was suprised to see how short the roots were, It would almost be fine in a PFT 3" pot. ;-)

Pat