D. brevifolia leaf cutting - worked!

[Drosera36]

Hello,

I managed to get some wild D. brevifolia leaf cuttings to take. So far, 2 out of maybe 5 have worked. However, it took about 2-3 months to notice any growth.




I first placed them in water and saw nothing. Compared to say D. rotundifolia or D. tokaiensis, you might notice buds developing in water after 2 weeks. After 2 months, I saw a single bud on one of the leaves.

I also noticed the leaves turned a dark red after some time. I see this happen with my D. rotundifolia leaves, too. Maybe it's significant? I have so far been unable to get leaf cuttings to take with D. capillaris, another "annual" sundew.

When I noticed a bud on one leaf, I placed the 3 leaves I had onto peat/sand and wrapped the pot with plastic wrap. After doing this, the first leaf developed a 2nd bud (first image), and a 2nd leaf started to bud as well after a month on medium (second image), 3 months total.

Anyways, just a reminder never to give up and it may take almost impossibly long to get your cuttings to work!

Ben

 

[bluemax]

Congrats on your success. Patience seems to be an indispensable part of propagation.

 

[hcarlton]

D. capillaris is not annual in any sense, and it will take from leaf cuttings so long as the cuttings are not compromised and, as is usually the practice, they are fresher leaves not yet on their way out. I get occasional plantlets coming up from leaves that were partly removed in repotting etc.
The red color doesn't mean much, it's just a stress signal; the leaf has been damaged (the removal from the parent plant), so the cells start overproducing anthocyanin as a protection mechanism.

 

[Drosera36]

Good to know, I'll try the D. capillaris cuttings again. I have heard people refer to these warm temperates as "annuals" but I don't really believe it as such.

I noticed none of the D. capillaris leaves I pulled turned red - so I wondered if maybe turning red may be associated with viable, potentially successful leaf cuttings Thanks for your detailed answer.

Ben

 

[FrankenSnyder]

Surprising such tiny leaves of D. brevifolia (synonym: D. annua) can sprout plantlets.

I have one brevifolia now 17 months old. The plant’s stem has formed a column like a tepui sundew, and branched.

 

[hcarlton]

Good to know, I'll try the D. capillaris cuttings again. I have heard people refer to these warm temperates as "annuals" but I don't really believe it as such.

I noticed none of the D. capillaris leaves I pulled turned red - so I wondered if maybe turning red may be associated with viable, potentially successful leaf cuttings Thanks for your detailed answer.

Ben

That's because they're not warm-temperate, they're the northern extension of primarily subtropical/tropical species. They sometimes display odd behaviors because of this (brevifolia will die back to roots when it's dry or particularly cold, and return later), but they are built to live a short-lived perennials in constantly warm environments.

 

[Drosera36]

Surprising such tiny leaves of D. brevifolia (synonym: D. annua) can sprout plantlets.

I have one brevifolia now 17 months old. The plant’s stem has formed a column like a tupui sundew, and branched.

Wow, have you removed the flower stalks when formed?

That's because they're not warm-temperate, they're the northern extension of primarily subtropical/tropical species. They sometimes display odd behaviors because of this (brevifolia will die back to roots when it's dry or particularly cold, and return later), but they are built to live a short-lived perennials in constantly warm environments.

Ah, I see, this makes a lot of sense, considering there are forms of capillaris in cuba or brevifolia in south america...although intermedia is also found in south america. How can one definitively determine the origin of these species?

Here are some pix of the plants in the wild (which I took the cuttings of):

 

[Drosera36]

And here's another location in Gainesville, FL

 

[hcarlton]

Phylogeography is the study of the origins of lineages. One must know taxonomy and phylogeny, along with geographic provenance, to determine where species originated. The morphologies and behaviors of the species will tell where plants with outlying distributions came from (intermedia forms hibernacula, no version of capillaris or brevifolia do, so the former is of temperate origin, the latter are not).

 

[bluemax]

'Nice to see your photos of D. brevifolia in the wild, Drosera36. This species doesn't get the attention it deserves, being as it is so wide-spread in the wild. A potful of them is a delight.

 

[FrankenSnyder]

D. brevifolia is tiny but has such nice proportionately large flowers. I will soon renew this aging plant by sinking the rosette to soil level again. I’ve done this before with burmannii, which is a species unable to sprout from leaf cuttings.