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Pinguicula gigantea

Joseph Clemens

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Below is a photograph showing a trio of plantlets that were produced at the end of "stolons" during the plants flowering. Several other plantlets were produced from this same plant in this same way, but were removed and potted up, they appear to be growing normally. I've been growing this same clone for many years now. It was originally obtained from Ed Read, labeled as Pinguicula A.L. #3. I've reproduced it by cloning it, selfing it, and used it as a parent in hybrids, but this is the first time it has reproduced itself by stolons, similar to strawberry runners. The stolons connecting these plantlets to the parent plant died away several months earlier. Makes me wonder if this behavior had been observed in the wild, if this plant might now be called, Pinguicula stolonifera. Seems that this genus has an amazing degree of variability and is incredibly adaptable to its environment.


P_gigantea_runners.jpg
 
Wow That's neat! Aren't P. gigantea the ones that are sticky on both sides of their leaves? or is it something else?
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Farmer Dave @ Oct. 05 2006,4:09)]Wow That's neat! Aren't P. gigantea the ones that are sticky on both sides of their leaves? or is it something else?
Yes, one of the unique features of this species, full coating of stalked glands on both sides of the leaves.
 
That's cool! I've been looking for one of them for a while, do you know a website or place that I can get one?
 
No way! That's so awesome. And I'm guessing that all took place in your standard Pinguicula conditions. I wonder what triggers the stolon formation?

Peter
 
I think what you are seeing is a response to low light levels that I have seen in several of the Mexican Ping.'s. Many have the ability to "push" themselves along the ground to get closer to a light source. The plant grows a "stolon" which grows out from the original root system and moves the rosette over until it is in a more favorable position. Then the "stolon" dies away quickly and the rosette drops fresh roots into the medium. It is a very stunning performance. I had my P. esseriana 'lg. form' do the same thing that your P. gigantea has done, make 3 offshoots that were pushed out from the mother rosette by long "stolons." I believe that when a plant makes clones around its base, and they are tucked down under large leaves, they will perform this stunt to get clear of the rosette for proper light. It's a cruel but interesting experiment to perform with a single plant: if you put it in low light but with a bright source off to the side, the plant will scoot as far over as it can in the pot to get closer to the light. I haven't tried it in a really extreme version but I wonder if you could get the plant to scoot right out of the pot so that it would be hanging by the "stolon" or , as I like to think of it "umbilical cord." Has anyone else played with this? Would this be considered phototropism?
 
therockmoron,
I believe your description of this process is most detailed and accurate. Thanks for contributing. I do believe that phototropism is a large part of this mechanism as you suggest.
 
Hi all,

At the LACPS meeting yesterday Ed Read gave a talk about an expedition he made a while back to see P. gigantea in Oaxaca. He showed pictures of huge clumps of green on open sunny cliffs. I guess the way it works is established plants put out stolons in all directions. This results in massive clumps or sometimes long chains of plants growing down the cliff face. The plants pictured in partial shade displayed the same behavior.

Hope this helps!

Peter
 
That gives me something to look forward to, maybe next spring.
 
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