Re: Allen Lowrie Letter/Neat Seed Additions

Rick Walker (walker@hpl-cutt.hpl.hp.com)
Thu, 09 Apr 92 12:24:50 PDT

I went to California Carnivores this weekend and got five new plants:

D. rotundifolia
D. anglica
D. alicia
D. burmaneii
P. esseriana

The first 2 are old standards, but I didn't have them yet, so they are
still fun. The alicia has is a beautiful 2" diameter rosette, bright red,
with a 4" uncoiling flower scape. I'm looking forward to this one
blooming. Does anyone know if it will self-pollinate?

The D. burmaneii (sp?) is reported to be an annual that I should definitely
try to collect seed from. It is really a juicy, succulent plant about 2"
in diameter, with very long (1/2") tentacles on the outer margin of the
leaf. I haven't seen it yet, but this sundew is supposed to have the
fastest acting trapping mechanism, with the outer fingers closing in about
60 seconds. (fast enough to visually see motion).

The Pinguicula esseriana is an interesting one. It forms small pale
whitish-green-grey rosettes (1/2" dia) with slightly cup-shaped leaves,
that look remarkably like the "hen-and-chicks plant". According to Peter,
the succulent leaves are very easy rooters, putting up new growth at the
base of the severed leaf. I'm looking forward to getting a colony of these
things going.

All in all, I spent about $35, or about $7.00/plant, which seems very
reasonable since most of the pots have 5-6 small plants in them.

Rick Walker