Here is Drosera anglica as it first appeared in the distant past, in the dawn of its creation when the first fertile seeds of an otherwise sterile hybrid fell from a seed pod and grew.
I am often asked what is the most rare plant in my collection, and this would be it. The plant was produced as a man made hybrid of Drosera linearis and D. rotundifolia by Ivan Snyder, and polyploidy was induced through the use of colchicine.
Ivan shared this plant with me, one of the 2 he had managed to produce and propagate. Ivan lost his his plant which he was cultivating, leaving me with the somewhat awesome burden stewarding this one of a kind species. So far the plant has not flowered, so I have not been able to propagate from seed.
You can see that the lamina more closely resembles D. x obovata than they modern day D. anglica, but this is how it would have started, before evolutionary pressures selected for the thinner lamina and more upright habit of our present day D. anglica.
The broader leaves would have overlapped each other, and there would have been competition for both prey and sunlight needed for photosynthesis. Plants with more narrow lamina and longer more erect petioles would have been more successful, and this trait would have been selected for.
Ivan has asked if I register this plant as a cultivar that I name it in honor of Donald Schnell, and this I will do. Ivan also did the same colchicine experiment producing a fertile D. x obovata, which he calls "Ivan's Paddle". To honor both Ivan, and Don I have decided on the name "Schnell's Paddle". I hope to be able to send the Donald Schnell a plant of this in the near future when I make an all out effort to propagate by hibernacula buds.
So gentle viewer, gaze on that which few before have ever seen: the prehistoric Drosera anglica!
I am often asked what is the most rare plant in my collection, and this would be it. The plant was produced as a man made hybrid of Drosera linearis and D. rotundifolia by Ivan Snyder, and polyploidy was induced through the use of colchicine.
Ivan shared this plant with me, one of the 2 he had managed to produce and propagate. Ivan lost his his plant which he was cultivating, leaving me with the somewhat awesome burden stewarding this one of a kind species. So far the plant has not flowered, so I have not been able to propagate from seed.
You can see that the lamina more closely resembles D. x obovata than they modern day D. anglica, but this is how it would have started, before evolutionary pressures selected for the thinner lamina and more upright habit of our present day D. anglica.
The broader leaves would have overlapped each other, and there would have been competition for both prey and sunlight needed for photosynthesis. Plants with more narrow lamina and longer more erect petioles would have been more successful, and this trait would have been selected for.
Ivan has asked if I register this plant as a cultivar that I name it in honor of Donald Schnell, and this I will do. Ivan also did the same colchicine experiment producing a fertile D. x obovata, which he calls "Ivan's Paddle". To honor both Ivan, and Don I have decided on the name "Schnell's Paddle". I hope to be able to send the Donald Schnell a plant of this in the near future when I make an all out effort to propagate by hibernacula buds.
So gentle viewer, gaze on that which few before have ever seen: the prehistoric Drosera anglica!