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D. burmannii flower puzzle

  • #21
Hmmm... this is getting even more suspicious. Your D.burmannii came from Joao in Brazil, home of D.sessilifolia... Could it be it got "tainted" in his collection and we're seeing some introgressed character??

Fernando Rivadavia
 
  • #22
With introgression of that sort...is it typical that the seeds of the parent plant would produce both white and pink flowers? I would assume my current Pot of 5 is the third generation down from Joao's plant with no other exposure to sessilifolia.

I guess I assumed a single plant would produce seed of one or the other color but not both. But I guess the DNA would be different for each seed.

Been a looong time since I've studies genetics.
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  • #23
Don't some D. burmannii forms have pink flowers? If I remember correctly, the plants from Bangalore, India have both scapes and flowers that are about the same color as those from D. sessilifolia. Aren't there pink-flowered plants in Australia too?
 
  • #24
Actually, there are a number of pink flowered forms of D. burmannii found in different areas of the world, e.g. the form discovered by Robert Gibson in Southeast Australia dubbed "Pilliga Red" which I have never cultivated.

The plant in question came from seed which (I believe) was sent to my by my friend in Brazil. It is not D. sessilifolia which I can recognize as distinct from any D. burmannii that I cultivate, both by its lamina and its overall size. At the time I received the plant, neither my friend or I cultivated this species. So whatever this is, it is not D. sessilifolia.

However, there is a remote possibility that the D. burmannii "red tentacle" form (which as ALWAYS flowered white for me) may have been visited by a pollinator that also visited the D. sessilifolia (which is invariably pink flowered), and this is an example of Drosera x theocalyx. Since Drosera pollen is not airborne, this would be the only way I could account for the pink flowers. I do not cultivate any other pink flowered D. burmannii. The plant I sent to PAK was in all ways D. burmannii and not D. sessilifolia. The mendellian ratio Darcie noted of white to pink flowers makes me suspicious that this unlikely event may have happened.

I am currently checking with my friend in Brazil to confirm that the original material I grew from seed originated from his collection as I believe it did.
 
  • #25
Tamlin - your back! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!
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  • #26
I just had a reply from my friend Joao. He did indeed send me the original seed, not that this resolves this mystery, for as I said, all my plants from this line have always been white flowered. I would regard the pink flowered form as a probable hybrid with D. sessilifolia favoring the D. burmannii form, since there is no other real way to account for this happening.
 
  • #28
Very interesting Emesis. My plants are also D. burmannii 'red tentacle'. My understanding is that Joao had no sessilifolia in his collection at the time he grew the plants so no crossing there. However William may have had sessilifolia around so thats a possibility.

I wonder if 'red tentacles' has a tendency to, on rare occasions, throw pink flowers without having been crossed with another plant? It will be interesting to see if the seed from the pink flowers produces white or pink flowering plants. I will have to keep track of any seed that goes out.

Thanks for adding that and the pics. Are your flowers pale pink or bright? Mine are a very bright pink.

Suzanne
 
  • #30
Hey Jan...how big is that burmannii red plant?  It looks kinda like sessilifolia.

Hmmm...interesting photos... thanks for posting them.
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  • #31
Okay, I've corresponded w/ Ivan Snyder on this matter. (Ivan introduced D. burmannii from Beerwah, QLD, AUS.)

Ivan Snyder wrote, "I have seen both white and pale pink flowered D. burmannii. My Beerwah plants have pale pink flowers. Noah's plants are likely the Beerwah form. One thing I have noticed on my Beerwah plant when harvesting seed is a sticky resinous substance on the sepals. It has a feel like the sticky plant known as Catchfly, genus Silene and Lychnis. I don't know if any other sundew has this."
 
  • #32
PAK, the "red" is quarter size and was given to me as a burmanni red...which according to the way this discussion is going doesn't mean much.
Perhaps William could shed some light.  I just knew you couldn't stay away from the fourums Tamlin.
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 welcome back.
 
  • #33
Thanks for the welcome Lauderdale, but I am more likely to shed hair than light I'm afraid, especially on this particular subject.

I too have seen pale pink flowers on the Beerwah form, but PAK is talking pink pink I think.....
 
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