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U. sandersonii

Hi!
I was wandering through a garden centre a few weeks back. I wandered over to the tray (always dry) that they keep their VFTs in (always dry and dying), and they had a specimin that I've never seen before. A U. Sandersonii! Of course I bought it, and it's been flowering non-stop. It's a great little plant. I'm a little worried about the moss that's been growing over it's little leaves, but I've been picking some of that off every now and again, and it's doing well.

My question: Are they carniverous? All my other plants have at least made an attempt at munching on the various flies and spiders that plague my life, but this one has just sat in it's pot and made bunny ears for me. I just don't see how it's meant to eat anything!

Thanks for your help.
 
Yes, U, sandersonii is carnivorous. The traps are under the substrate, and form off of stolons which in this species replaces roots. The plant has no true roots. The bladder catches cery small to microscopic prey, which are sucked into a hollow bladder when they trigger the trap, probably from brushing bristles around the traps mouth. After they are in, they are actively digested and absorbed.
 
Wow, thank you! I guess that explains why I've heard it called a bladder wort then.
I tried to do a little research on the plant, but there doesn't seem to be many places that give detailed info on it like there are for other plants in my small collection. It's good to know it's not just a pretty face.
 
You found them in a garden center? Normally you don't see anything beyond VFT's, a couple types of sundews, a small handful of pitcher plants, and a butterwort. Look back through the this forum. You'll see some closeups of Utrics in bloom, with their cute "bunny ears."
 
Utricularia are the "low man on the totem pole" but to the special ones that appreciate their unique beauty they are the Kings of CP.
 
watch out, i got a U. livida that just cost me postage, wasnt expecting much from these "lowly" CP's but now i have U. tridentata, sandersonii, and tricolor i am waiting on a longifolia to show up and am bidding on another Utric in the auction. these lowly lil Cp's are addicting in their own right, weither because some are so easy to take care of, take up less room or because they have some of the best flowers of the CP's who knows but i bet you wind up with more
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Rattler
 
If I ever see any more on sale anywhere, I'll buy them. They are wonderfull little plants, and I like how easy they are to care for. I've just gone through my first winter with my plants, and it was quite scary. I guess that bit's all about confidence.

My only non-CPs are tomato and chillie plants (mmm... home-made chillie), so it's great to have a plant that will flower for me. I let my VFT flower last year to see what it looked like, and won't let it again.

How can people not appreciate the U. Sandersonii? To me, it's right up there.
 
well if you like them keep an eye on the trading forum. some of the more common ones litterally grow like weeds for people and they have them up for postage all the time. i would send you some livida but it recently got divided up for trade and dont have any more for trade at the moment but give me a couple months to let it take over the pot again
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Rattler
 
These plants are made to share: they enjoy regular division. This sparks new and rapid growth, and if there are any problems in cultivation, division acts a lot like restarting your computer.

I am really glad to see the interest growing for this genus. There are different levels of difficulty as well: some of the epiphitic species are real challenges to grow with success.

Utricularia are some of the most evolved plants on Earth, and also the largest genus of CP with the widest distribution. It is a shame more are not readily available here in the U.S., but I and others am working on that. Only a small percentage of the published species have ever made it into cultivation - and unlike the showier and more highly demanded Nepenthes, there are few collecting expiditions to discover introduce new species. The intere$t just isn't there.

It's a thrill seeing the cutting of U. pauliniae I placed on the auction drawing bids the like of which were once reserved for those flamboyant Nepenthes: a hopeful sign that someday these plants will get the recognition that they deserve.

Meanwhile growers of these plants can rightfully consider themselves almost as special as the plants themselves!
 
  • #10
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Tamlin Dawnstar @ May 12 2004,7:29)]Utricularia are the "low man on the totem pole" but to the special ones that appreciate their unique beauty they are the Kings of CP.
To me Drosera are the Kings of the CP world. Utrics are the Queens- they are prettier than the Kings.
 
  • #11
A couple of weeks back, there was a show on TV about the RHS show. Part of the show followed one young chap who went to show his CPs. He had this greenhouse full of them, and I've never lived in a *house* that big. I could have spent hours in there wandering along his trays of water. His greenhouse, as his display was mostly very tall, skinny Sarrs. He had a few low-level plants at the front, like some almost symetrical VFT, but no Ultricularia. I would have thought that even though they don't capture the imagination like a VFT or look at intricate and delicate as a Nep, they've got to be show-worthy?

These plants are special. Most of my other CPs look normal by comparison!

I'm presuming I've got a lot of very small plants in my pot, the beautifull minority of which are flowering? It would be great to divide them in to two pots and let them spread. Any tips on this would be appreciated!
 
  • #12
Tamlin, speaking of that U. pauliniae, do you think you may have more sometime in the future? i stuck out the bidding as long as i could justify being that i have to build the new space for my overflowing collection i just couldnt go any higher. gotta make priorities right
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Rattler
 
  • #13
To divide Utricularias just rip off a piece of the plant and put it in a new pot. Using a 50/50 peat/sand or peat/ perlite mix for soil.

microphoneMark, If you would like A piece of livida pm me you address and i'll send you some.

rattler, Right now you have the top bid on the U. pauliniae. If you win let me know, I'm sure we can work out a trade once it starts growing.

Chris
 
  • #14
no problem like i said on my last bid(which was placed after alot of thought) i will do my best to get it growing well, hopefully with some help from Tamlin, and distribute it as far and wide as i possibly can. members on here have greatly increased the size of my collection mostly from shear generocity and i plan on doing the same. while i have high bid at the moment who knows if ill still have it at the end of the auction.

Rattler
 
  • #15
Hi,

I agree with Tamlin and the others posting in this thread: Utricularias can become very addictive! They have crept past Pinguicula to become my second favourite CP genus, just behind Drosera. If there's one thing that (slightly) annoys me about them, it's that so many of the species would be very difficult to maintain in cultivation. Many of them are annuals, and I guess that means not only germinating them (difficult in some cases), but growing them on to adults, then ensuring they flower, then manually cross-pollinating them (usually with 2 separate clones), hoping they form seeds before they die! For example I'd love to grow the amazing "antenna-flowered" (my name) species like U.capilliflora, U.dunlopii, etc, also the likes of the minute U.quinquedentata - but assuming you can germinate them (using GA3, fire, ...
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etc), how do you cross-pollinate them without an electron microscope??!! Also, there are the rheophyte species living in fast-flowing streams, again difficult to recreate the conditions in cultivation! Anyway, I guess a challenge is always a good thing!!  
biggrin.gif

A fantastic and beautiful genus anyway.
 
  • #16
I haven't grown enough of the annuals to be sure of how they would behave in cultivation. Some of the annuals may respond to division as a way of prolonging their stay within a collection. Others seem to germinate, flower, set seed and die quite rapidly: ala U. multifida, forming individual rosettes of "leaves" which soon die off. I think that the species that "run" with their stolons may be more ammenable to maintenence by division. I am currently exerimenting with several annuals in hopes of finding a method other than seed to keep them going.

I grew U. dunlopii (close to my former name of DiLapi!) back in 1978 when Martin Cheek (now Dr. Martin Cheek of Kew Gardens) sent me seed. It grew and flowered nicely, and those flowers are awesome! It seems to have vanished from cultivation these days.

Pollination of Utricularia is very problematical for me. My eyes aren't what they were. One of my goals is to obtain a good dissecting microscope in order to be able to pollinate and produce seed from my collection.

I think most of the Utricularia seed of annual species is simply kept to long in hopes of capitalizing on it. Fresh seed of Utricularia seems to germinate well enough. As for the difficulties in recreating specific habitats, it seems the genus is willing to be adaptable. I am currently growing the lithophytic U. striatula in a LFS slurry with good effect, and it may be other species will also adapt themselves to a more general culture.

It seems that many Droseraholics are also Utriculariaddicts!
 
  • #17
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]It seems that many Droseraholics are also Utriculariaddicts!

Yes, they certainly are addictive, almost annoyingly so!  
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I don't think they'll overtake Drosera to become my personal number one CP addiction (except perhaps temporarily - although I always seem to return to Sundews as my "first CP love" lol), but they come a very close second!  
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  • #18
I've got straight up sandersonnii blooming right now. How does one get the "blue" to flower? Also, my livida hasn't grown or died or died back or done anything since I've had it (now 3 months). It is in a peat, LFS, sand mix, open tray, west window sill. What will get it growing?
 
  • #19
my livida is in with my lowland Neps(and everything else) recieving lots of light (14 hours no shade), high humidity and is nice and warm during the day with a slight drop at night and is doing wonderfully and is about done with a solid 4 months of continuous flowering. its planted in a peat/perlite mix. not sure why its doing so well it just is, im not doing anything special for it.
 
  • #20
My U. sandersonii blue didn't bloom until recently. I think the warmer spring temperatures and increased light and day length did the trick. I've never had Utrics do a mass flowering, though. They just trickle the flowers:
20040508-CP-U.sandersonii%20'blue'%202.jpg
 
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