Drosera meristocaulis

[Not a Number]

After being dormant for nearly a year they've starting growing again. Nobody said they were easy to grow.

At least there are multiple growth points now if the old ones will wake up.

 

[kulamauiman]

ooooo

 

[amphirion]

shall i nickname you the "drosera whisperer" or did aaron or tamlin take that title already?

 

[CPlantaholic]

WOOOOWWW Very nicely done!
lol amph. NaN and Tamlin should split the title!!!

 

[thez_yo]

Ooooh sticky

 

[Wire Man]

Pretty little dew. I don't think I've seen this one before.

 

[RL7836]

NaN - congratulations. How do you grow them (media, lighting, etc). In theory, I have some coming in a few weeks...

Pretty little dew. I don't think I've seen this one before.

Oh no - they are quite rare. Iirc, they were 're-discovered' after many years by Fernando and a batch of seed was brought back from the expedition & sold. I suspect that less than half of the people succeeded in growing the plants to maturity, fewer got them to flower and close to none have produced seed (apparently not self-fertile). All of this info is from memory & some (or all) may not be accurate...

Either way, these plants are very rare in cultivation and have an interesting backstory. Here's part of it on the Wiki page & some more & more & here & here.

 

[Not a Number]

Ivan got seed, these are second generation. Not self-compatible.

Straight long fiber sphagnum (Chilean, seems appropriate). Always in standing water under regular old shop lights with the rest of my Drosera. Seem to like high humidity though Ivan grew his at ambient humidity and room temperatures. I'm trying to harden them off from humidity again because fungus growth is problem when feeding otherwise. They need lots of feeding to grow. Don't know about temperatures, I sprouted the seeds at room temperature which took a couple months. Seemed like a jolt of hot weather may have helped there. I wouldn't let the temperatures get below 48°F. I took them to show and tell last year for the August LACPS meeting and left them in my car for most of the evening. Low temps is probably what made them go dormant. Usually fatal for other South American sundews in my experience. Do not appear to like root disturbance. Every one Ivan tried to transplant died.

Pyro tells me his ABG connection says they propagate easily in tissue culture from root cuttings.

See Ivan's article on them:
http://www.lacps.net/articles/drosera-meristocaulis

Here's one of my sprouts

 

[RL7836]

NaN - the article you linked was in early 2005. In it, there was this comment: "We can expect a detailed article on this fascinating habit from Fernando or Ivan soon."Was this article ever published? I didn't find any real references to something being published on the discovery or Ivan's growing successes. (There was a CPN article on Fernado's expedition where they didn't find any D. meristocaulis).

 

[Not a Number]

I asked Fernando not to long ago, he hasn't published it yet. He looked at the genetics vs pygmy Drosera. I think he's just too busy with expeditions and such to work on it. He was having an expedition in Brazil this month but not to the D. meristocaulis site.

 

[pappydew]

Very cool, I always forget that SA is even home to dews.

 

[Wire Man]

Peculiar little dew. I wonder if there are any more SA pygmies.

 

[Nep Lover]

beautiful little thing it is

 

[jimscott]

Nice!

 

[Kinabalufan]

Im guessing it doesnt have gemmae like other pygmies. would really love this species but I guess its a vain dream ha ha

 

[Not a Number]

Here's some older pictures from before they went dormant or whatever on me:

 

[bluemax]

Lovely little gem and nicely grown, NaN. What other treasures does the southern American continent still hold for us?

 

[amphirion]

thanks very much for sharing....

" before they went dormant or whatever on me..."
too true. too true.