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Epiphyte and Lithophyte CPs?

I am aware that many pings commonly grow on rocks, but what other CPs have left the ground and taken to mountains and trees?

What Epiphyte and Lithophyte CPs are commonly kept?
 
I have personaly seen several Drosera adelae about 1m up tree's growing on moss on the bark, and many will grow on straight rock, no moss or anything, as will D.burmanni and Indica in rare cases.
And I believe several utrics are both (nelumbifolia in broms, nephrophylla on rocks, caerula on rock faces with no soil just amongst dense tree roots, quelchii on branches/tree's)
 
There are a number of epiphytic and lithophytic Utrics. I wouldn't know the species off hand, but Barry Rice has a few listed, and I believe most wikipedia entries for species, where there are entries, include it's native growing environment.

In the wild, Nepenthes eustachya grows lithophytically, but I don't know anyone who grows it that way. Most people grow it as a standard Nep, as far as I know.

Personally, I've seen D. rotundifolia, and other 'dews take to epiphytic and lithophytic growing in the wild, but, again, I don't know anyone who grows them that way.

It would be interesting, for me, to hear about any experiments you do regarding growing CPs as epiphytes or lithophytes.
 
A real list is actually quite long. Any of the larger terrestrial Utricularia often grow epiphytically, including the Foliosa and Orchidioides subgenera, and a lot of species grow on rocks. The sightings of Drosera being epiphytic is new news to me, but there are at least 3 species of Pinguicula that live epiphytically, such as P. lignicola and P. casabitoana, also hemiepiphytica.
Probably the best known are the Nepenthes, as the majority of species seem to be able to go to the trees on occasion. Some include: N. lowii, edwardsiana, macrophylla, fusca, maxima, robcantleyi, veitchii, ventricosa, alata, lingulata, izumiae, etc. The list is long here.
 
Thank you all for posting!
I am very attracted to Epiphytes and Lithophytes. When I found out that pings could grow on rocks I had to try it right away! I started growing some moranensis and agnata x gypsicola on some aquarium tufa rock that I had. Tufa rock is amazing in that it wicks up water and always stays moist. I only refill the saucer that I have the rock in it and never have to pour water over the pings. I put a little sphagnum moss between the plants and rock, to help cushion and retain moisture. I hope the plants will eventually root directly onto the rock.
The moranensis started to root, but then went into winter mode. The agnata x gypsicola started growing very well, but became top heavy and fell over. I recently remount the agnata x gypsicola and added two sticky leafed potosiensis I revently received. I hope they start rooting soon. The moranensis plants are currently sitting in a dry pot, I am waiting for them to go into growing mode again before I remount them.
When spring arrives, I am going to see if things continue to go well with the rock planting. If they stay healthy, I plan to try some other CPs rooted onto rocks and wood. It's nice to know that so many CPs can grow as Epiphytes and Lithophytes!
 
There were serveral Pinguicula in Caribbean (Cuba?) that were tree adapted epiphytes IIRC. forget the names now....
 
Catopsis is the only epiphytic carnivore (maybe) in North America. I have also seen Pinguicula pumila in the Florida Keys growing lithophyticly on limestone. Neither are common in cultivation. Common epiphytes and lithophytes in cultivation include the Mexican Pings and Nepenthes, especially ventricosa and truncata. It would be neat to grow them that way, but you would need a very humid environment and a mossy tree. Perhaps starting seed on a moss covered limb would work better than mounting the Nepenthes like an orchid.

Before I forget, I have seen plenty of Drosera brevifolia growing on rotting, mossy logs and on the mossy bases of pine trees. They tend to pop up anywhere in the spring, and I've even heard they pop up in cracks in Austin TX.
 
How could you forget Nepenthes epiphytica ? Come on now man ! hahaha

http://www.cpphotofinder.com/nepenthes-epiphytica-5247.html

Like I said, the list is long.... I just mentioned the first ones that came to mind, and epiphytica is a relatively new species... it will take a while for me to have that name come up at random...
Also kula, the species you mentioned are the ones I spoke of above: lignicola and casabitoana. They grow on the pine trees in Cuba and nearby islands.
 
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I'm sure there are a bunch of species in most, if not all these gensus' that grow as epiphytes or lithophytes. Maybe it's not their "normal" pattern of growth, but I've seen plenty of photos of nepenthes growing in/on/amongst rocks. Geoff Wong's awesome veitchii that he grew bonsai style was grow based on plants he had observed growing lithophyticly (if this is a real word, then spell check doesn't recognize it) in nature. This last summer Johnny (Cthulhu) and I saw some D. rotundifolia growing straight on the wood of a boardwalk. Some with no moss cover in between them and the wood. This obviously isn't the way they normally grow, but they were certainly happy doing so.
 
  • #11
Thank you all for posting! Carnivores are so amazing, I see a mixed rock or log planting in my future . . . I'll be sure to post photos when I do. Thanks again!
 
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