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Photo: D. montana var tomentosa

Here is a real beauty: D. montana var. tomentosa from the populations in Botumirim, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. I love the hairy scapes on this one!

Drosera_montana_var_tomentosa_Botumirim_Minas_Gerais_State_Brazil_111503_1r.jpg
 
Wow, that is beautiful. I love the scape also!
Andrew
 
Wow No. 2...that's beautiful! Great example of a hairy scape. Love the shape too.
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Let's hope this plant is self fertile: it's a single specimen and I sure want to keep it going as I doubt I will ever find this species again in cultivation.
 
That one is great. It looks like a hairy spider!
 
Minas Gerais State, Brazil...I have been there...a lotta' years ago.  It is famous for the lage number of precious gem mines in the area.  I was into gem cutting at the time and went to a newly opened mine and bought a 16.5 carat Imperial Topaz.  I cut a finished gem of 5.4 carats from it and it is one of the largest flawless stones of that type in existence.  It is the color of orange marmalade and the prize of my gem collection.
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Too bad I wasn't into CPs at the time.
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Lauderdale,

Another passion throughout my life has been gem and mineral collecting, with a concentration in crystals. I've been all over the U.S. bashing away at rocks, but never made it to South America. I can relate! A word of advice: while climbing a sheer rock wall, never jump for a handhold: your foot won't find the ledge you were perched on when you make the return trip, resulting in cursing and praying in equal measure. I am lucky to be here writing this!

BTW, I am always interested in trading for crystals, uncut or otherwise........;-)

Come visit sometime and I'll take you to Herkimer, NY: some of the purest double terminated Silicon dioxide on the Earth are to be found there. It takes about a week of hard labor to cut down to where the gem pockets are, but once you break into one there are thousands of perfect double terminated crystals, muahahaha!!!!

I bet we could trade some war stories: the Mother doesn't yield Her treasures to readily!
 
If the Botumirim-form is anything like the Serra da Canastra (also in Minas Gerais State) your plant should be self-fertile. The hairy scape is very different though.

Regards,

Christer
 
Thanks for reassuring me Christer.  Hopefully I'll be able to share some of this seed with you, I haven't forgotten your generosity with the seed from your own plants.

Any chance of posting a photo of your plants?
 
  • #10
Hi Tamlin,

I have no new photos of this species, so you'll probably recognize the rosette pic from before. Here are also two old pics of the flower.

tomentosa1.jpg

tomentosa3.jpg

tomentosa4.jpg


Apart from that they self-seed they also spread readily from the roots. Although they are not as rampant, plantlets have also appeared in species like D. villosa var. ascendens, D. communis, D. esmeraldae and D. roraimae. I'm still waiting to see flowers in some of the mentioned species, but at least there are other ways to multiply them
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Regards,

Christer
 
  • #11
beutiful plants. My tomesntosa right now is quite lime green, but sending up one hairy scape. Hope to share seed soon-Zach
 
  • #12
Hey Tamlin, I'm happy to see such beautiful specimens D.montana var.tomentosa (or simply D.tomentosa, if you subscribe to Saint Hilaire's taxonomy versus that of Diels) in cultivation. I too love the hairyness of the scapes on this form (widespread in N Minas Gerais & S Bahia states). The Serra da Canastra form as well as others from S Minas Gerais and Goias are usually less hairy or even glabrous. As far as I know all Brazilian sundews are self fertile, with a possible exception being D.montana var.schwackei. Thomas Carow has had a single specimen since 1987 and it never produced seeds (last I heard, in 1998 I think). We even thought it was a hybrid, until I finally found the plants in the wild in 1997. This plant definitely deserves species status, it is VERY different from D.montana and D.tomentosa.

Fernando Rivadavia
 
  • #13
I cultivate some other forms of D. tomentosa (guess that answers the question of my preference in taxonomists) with glabarous scapes (flowering now as well!). Thanks for the reassurance regarding the seeds. I will also make like a bee!

I failed with the D.montana var.schwackei, not realizing it needed a drier substrate :-(. Now I know better and I hope one day to have the opportunity to try to cultivate this species again. It's a real beauty, and I love the colors in the photos from the field! It certainly seems very distinct from either D. montana or D. tomentosa (I see the sense of these being regarded as varieties, I think: either the differences are subtle, or both my plants were the same: the flowers of both were identical to my eye, and seemed to be D. tomentosa).

Drosera_montana_var%5b1%5d._montana_%20flowers17_r.jpg



Thanks for the nice compliment about the plant. The HID lighting really tends to keep the plants typical (and you should see my D. graminifolia!!!).
 
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