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Drosera filiformis help!!

I have a Drosera filiformis which I bought as it was forming its hibernacula.

It is now starting to grow again which is good as this is my first Drosera that goes dormant.

Can I do leaf cuttings on it or is seed the only way to get more of the. I only have one plant. Are the flowers self pollinating or do I need another plant to get seed.

Thanks.
 
Leaf cuttings is the way to go.

This:
D_filiformis.jpg


Became this in a year:
s_Wed_086.jpg
 
Yes, filiformis is generally quite easy to propagate via leaf cuttings. I like to take a new leaf that has just fully uncurled, it seems they work better than older leaves.
 
Ok thanks. It is just coming out of hibernation and has not finished uncurling its first leaf yet. Should I wait until it has a few leaves uncurled?
 
To put it simply: yes. There should always be a few leaves to leave on the plant so it has the strength to deal with one missing leaf.
 
To put it simply: yes. There should always be a few leaves to leave on the plant so it has the strength to deal with one missing leaf.

Thank you for your help.

Mine has longest leaf of about 2 inches. How big should they get. Should I do something to make it bigger?
 
The first few leaves might not be very long, but as the plant gets older the leaves will get longer.
The mature leaves on my unidentified variety get up to about 7". There are varieties that get much longer than that.
 
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my Drosera filiformis ,it may be a Florida giant or a hybrid of it, has leaves around 12" long and the flower stalks are twice that
 
How many types of D. filiformis are there?
 
  • #11
Well, lets count:
D. filiformis filiformis
D. filiformis tracyi
D. filiformis "Florida All Red"
D. filiformis "Florida Giant"
D. filiformis 'California Sunset'
D. filiformis 'Dreamsicle'
D. filiformis 'Ambrosia'
Plus any location specific varieties and anthocyanin-free plants floating out there, so plenty of different kinds, but three actually registered cultivars.
 
  • #13
That of course assumes you don't consider Drosera filiformis and Drosera tracyi as separate species. I would write the list:

D. filiformis
D. tracyi
D. filiformis "Florida All Red" or D. filiformis "Florida" ("Florida All Red" was used to distinguish it from 'Florida Giant')
D. filiformis 'Florida Giant' or D. 'Florida Giant' (I suspect this is really a hybrid)
D. 'California Sunset'
D. 'Dreamsicle'
D. 'Ambrosia'

Having grown the first 5 plants there is no question in my mind that Drosera filiformis and Drosera tracyi are separate species. That they make natural hybrids in my view is of no consequence. In fact most of the North American Drosera species can and do make hybrids. The only real question is whether in a taxonomists judgement there are enough taxonomic characters to distinguish the plants. For more information please see:

Rice, Barry A. (2011) The thread-leaf sundews Drosera filiformis and Drosera tracyi. Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 40(1):4-16
 
  • #14
THe biggest thing holding some of us back is that these two plants are the only ones in North America which are able to hybridize and the hybrids are fertile themselves without special chemicals being used. I will admit there seems to be some large differences between the two (never grown both before, so I can't make caertain judgements), but there are also big similarities. It might be interesting to try hybridizing them with D. graminifolia to see if there's any similarity there too.
 
  • #15
Thanks for the info and the link.

I had not seen D. graminifolia before which from pictures looks similar. Will have to try to find some seeds for this also :lol:
 
  • #16
Let me know if you do, that's a plant I've been looking for for a while now. :D
 
  • #17
If the two taxa can hybridize and make fertile offspring then why have they not merged into one or at least formed a broad zone of intermediates?

Good luck on Drosera graminifolia. Other than its long leaves it is nothing like Drosera filiformis up close. Its known hybrids include Drosera camporupestris x graminifolia and Drosera graminifolia x montana tomentosa.
 
  • #18
I do know for the most part that the two different taxa are for the most part widely separated, so subspeciation could occur, however I'm not sure an answer has been found for why they don't interbreed in the rare cases the tracyi lives near the florida form of filiformis. Besides those few locations, however, the two "subspecies" don't generall come in contact. I do know the hybrids are fertile, however, as there have been reports of D. 'California Sunset' setting viable seeds.
 
  • #19
Finding seed for D. graminifolia will be difficult as it seems many of the clones appear to be self-incompatible. There are scattered reports of self-fertilization so either it's a matter of luck or the clone. Since this species was in mass production by AG3 for a few years most of the plants around the US are probably the same seemingly self-incompatible clone.
 
  • #20
Have gotten see self pollinating on the AG3 clone, but looks like germination rates are super low....... maybe one seed out of hundreds and it might just be a snuck over weedy drosera....
 
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