This is a guide to identifying
pygmy Drosera and to show the extreme variation among
the species. The first picture of the plant is taken early
in the growing season showing the plants at their "best".
You can sort of get the scale of the plants by looking at the
sand grains. That is 16 mesh silica sand blasting sand in all
the photos. The flowers are as close as possible so the details
of the flower morphology can be seen. Note the differences
in the naughty bits as well as petal shape, color, and pattern.
The pot photos ARE to scale. The images show an 8 cm square.
The plants species are verified from Carnivorous Plants
of Australia, volume 2 and 3, by Allen Lowrie.
Drosera echinoblastus
The flowers are large for such a small plant, about 2 cm across,
and an orange metalic. After blooming the plants enter summer
dormancy. It takes a lot of energy to make those flowers
and many plants don't survive the effort. I have never gotten
seeds so this species may be self-incompatible. It would
require crossing two different clones by hand to get seeds. |