#4 : Valentine’s Baby-Making With Drosera!

Spent this past February attempting my hand at hybridizing some South Africa Drosera, and I’m documenting a guide for the first time. The two plants I picked out were my Drosera capensis Red form and Drosera sp. ‘floating’ (admirabilis). The reason I picked these plants was two fold. First and foremost they are supposed to be genetically compatible; they also happen to be flowering profusely at the same time of the year, with flowers open at the same time in the day, making my job much, much easier.

Here are the two plants in question :

Drosera Capensis ‘Red Form’

Drosera admirabilis sp. ‘floating’

img_20170221_141001-01 — D admirablis flower ready for hybridization

As you can see they differ greatly in characteristics, which should hopefully make it easy not only to spot out hybrids, but to find exceptional looking hybrids with distinct qualities inherited from both parents. At least that’s the goal… you’ll have to check back in for an update in a few months to see if the seeds were viable!

And here’s what the process entails :

A Drosera flower has two parts, the pollen creating/containing anthers, and the pollen accepting Stigma, which then guides that pollen down to the plant ovary for seed production.

The first goal is to remove the Stamens on the receiving flower so that it doesn’t pollinate itself and create non-hybrid seeds. The following two pictures illustrate the flower on the admirabilis, before and after the removal of the Stamens.

Stamens still intact

Stamens removed

*Note how I avoided getting any pollen on the Stigmas in the removal process.

These anthers can now be discarded or kept to pollinate your other plant back, and attempt hybridization both ways (I opted to only focus on the admirabilis as I have been doing this every day for the every flower on that stalk.)

This stunning Drosera capensis flower is going to be donating its anthers so that I can get pollen from them. Shortly after this picture was taken a couple of those yellow anthers were removed.

img_20170221_141117-01 — Get as much of the pollen on those stigma’s as you can!

Here I am getting ready to rub the donor anthers on the stigmas.

and here is the final step complete. Look at that golden pollen-y goodness all over. Hopefully this will ensure many viable seeds, with lots of interesting characteristics. Check back in to see further developments in the future!

Here are some bonus pictures of other plants doing well right now :

Drosera occidentalis looking snazzy with those flowers.

img_20170207_022949-01 — New Pitcher on N robcantleyi x hamata. One of my favorite Nepenthess, and the crown jewel of my Nepenthes collection.

Drosera Esmeraldae looking happy and dewy! Wonderfully easy South American sundew.

Sold this little guy on Ebay this last week. I hope he likes his new home. Had started to display some lovely purple veins on the leaf margins.

And with the weather warming up a little bit, about half of my woolly sundews have started to look less miserable again, and some have started to put on quite a show!

img_20170202_040233-01 — Here’s a picture of my best looking Drosera falconeri before I repotted it. By far one of my favorite sundews.

Drosera paradoxa speculated to be the ‘Type form’ from Lady, Dreaming Arnhemland, NT as it is the only known stem forming paradoxa.

Here is the same paradoxa slurping on some maxsea!

img_20170202_040429-01 — And finally the most stunning of the lot. Drosera lanata. You really need to see this one in person to appreciate its beauty!

Thanks for reading, and checking out the pictures! I hope you found this useful or entertaining. Make sure to check out the giveaway that ends in a few days on the front page! or through here :

Either click on the picture below or here for more info.