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Spatulata Variety Identity

So my spatulata is finally about to flower, with pink petals (just slightly lighter than magenta). I don't know what variety I have, but it doesn't seem like many varieties have pink flowers, so given that and the fact that the leaves stay bright green despite other drosera in the same conditions turning deep red, is it possible to determine what variety it is?
 
Pictures are going to be needed, and considering D. tokaiensis and x tokaiensis are often confused with spatulata varieties (as spatulata is the parent of the non-polyploid hybrid), and many forms of those are pink flowered, little else will really help determine. There are in fact a number of pink flowered spatulata (Sydney, Beenak, var. gympiensis, certain Japanese forms).
 
Pictures are going to be needed, and considering D. tokaiensis and x tokaiensis are often confused with spatulata varieties (as spatulata is the parent of the non-polyploid hybrid), and many forms of those are pink flowered, little else will really help determine. There are in fact a number of pink flowered spatulata (Sydney, Beenak, var. gympiensis, certain Japanese forms).

I'll take a picture when the flower actually opens. And how many of those varieties stay green?
 
That can depend on the plant, and the light levels. Some forms don't turn red until they're in full sun. This includes most D. x/ tokaiensis forms, and a number of spatulata varieties. A lot of them stay green, but appear very red when the tentacles turn scarlet in good light.
 
If they produce seeds, you have D. tokaiensis. If the flowers are sterile, it's D. x tokaiensis
 
If they produce seeds, you have D. tokaiensis. If the flowers are sterile, it's D. x tokaiensis

I am kind of confused, is D. tokaiensis a hybrid itself as well or is it a spatulata variety? Sources were mixed on that. And if it is one of those, why is mine so green in conditions that make my other pigmented drosera red?
 
D. x tokaiensis is a hybrid between D. spatulata and D. rotundifolia, of which in the wild a number of populations have spontaneously gone polyploid and become fertile, producing a new fertile species D. tokaiensis, much like how D. anglica and D. x anglica are in North America.
As for the color, D. tokaiensis generally tends to stay green, but if it's getting enough light the tentacles should be bright red and the leaves may be red edged. If your pictures show the light levels they're getting I would find a way to increase it though.
 
I don't think the flower colour can help with ID for spath's, reason being I have driven all over East Au, and the majority of spathulata sites on the coast (easily over 100 sites I have seen) between Sydney and Cooktown are pink flowered.
Some pops, such as a few near Newcastle, Bundaberg and Cairns do have white flowered plants, but only a handful (except Newcastle where 5/7 sites had white flowers, as opposed to Cairns where 2/14 have white), if you go more than 50km inland you start to see white flowered and very few pink flowers here in Au, also as one goes further south one seems to find more white colonies.
So in summary the pink/white flowers are randomised and both abundant, both with a very large range and both with exceptions to the rule of coast/inland, however many western and southern pops seem to be more prone to turning red than coastal northern pops that even in high light can remain green in a few localities.

So when Carlton said "there are a number of pink" he was on track, there are potentially hundreds of pink localities, I am also convinced that many (such as Sydney's) may actually be mixes of the regions plants in cultivation as spathulata are one of the most common carns on the east coast north of Sydney (rivalled by D.peltata, U.uliginosa and gibba), in many localities have flowering plants year round and are readily found in the suburbs and on rd sides where seed collection is easy.
 
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  • #10
Pretty much every waterfall and permanent creek or seep on the east coast has a colony, if they are more than 1km from another colony with no plants between I call it a new colony, if there are a few plants between colonies at less than 2km I call it the one "broken"colony, the largest colony I have found is a broken colony 28km long along a HWY, the largest gap between colonies is the HWY itself as they go along the whole rd on both sides breaking up and restarting (also a pink colony).
 
  • #11
D. x tokaiensis is a hybrid between D. spatulata and D. rotundifolia, of which in the wild a number of populations have spontaneously gone polyploid and become fertile, producing a new fertile species D. tokaiensis, much like how D. anglica and D. x anglica are in North America.
As for the color, D. tokaiensis generally tends to stay green, but if it's getting enough light the tentacles should be bright red and the leaves may be red edged. If your pictures show the light levels they're getting I would find a way to increase it though.

No, the pictures were taken during a rainy day, which is why it isn't particularly bright. So it is a species derived from a hybrid then. Freaking not what I was paying for when I bought seeds. *rage quit over mislabeled seeds*
 
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  • #12
Given that I bought seeds in the United States, I don't think an Australian variety is really all that likely
 
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Most D. spatulata forms in cultivation are from Australia: Fraser Island, Queensland, Ivan's 3-way, var. gympiensis, Sydney, Beenak, 'Tamlin', etc. Buying seeds in the US has no impact on that, especially since neither that species or tokaiensis occur here....
But, D. tokaiensis is often mislabeled as spatulata (or the incorrect spelling spathulata more commonly) and the hybrid form and fertile form both sold widely under such names in the US and worldwide. You can identify them easily by the wide tips of the lamina, something very few true spatulata forms have. Even then, it's often limited to the smaller forms, like var. bakoensis.
 
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