Sandy mixes, if not pure sand, is definitely the key (no guarentees though!)
The local colony grows in a heathland area which is actually very ancient
sanddunes (fairly far inland) in pure white sand (this is quite fine, and may
have a little organic matter - but not much). The soil is naturally very
well drained so dryness would be a common occurance. Although similar in
many ways to pygmies, they can be as large as spathulata's say up to an inch
in diameter. Definitely very difficult to grow, let alone flower!
>>them off again (May). The growth consisted of an initial rosette, which
>>then produced a somewhat prostrate stem with leaf pairs or triples
>>arranged along it. No flowers were produced. Does this seem like
>>erythrorhiza to people, or if not, what might it be?
>
>D. erythrorhiza never has an upright stem. If it was prostrate, it may
>be one of the climbing species - maybe D. macrantha (just guessing).
You can narrow the type of sundew down to two - "Rainbows" or
"Fan-leaved". Rainbows usually have stem leaves on stalks and the leaf
is either round and cup-shaped (like your planchonii) or shield-shaped
with lynx-ears as in peltata. The main difficulty is that there are
hundreds (?) of different species of Rainbows... (But only 3 species?
of fan-leaved sundews)
>>Planchonii (sown in spring) germinated after 50 days, very soon died
>>down, but re-emerged in October, producing upright wiry stem, but no
>>more than about 1 inch (25mm). The leaves were cup shaped but with the
>>inner, sticky, surface pointing downwards.
>
>According to Rica Erickson's book, _Plants of Prey_, this sounds like the
>'real' D. planchonii - cup shaped leaved pointing down.
Our planchonii's took a couple of years to get growing properly, dying off
early initially, and they are now growing large and will hopefully flower for
the first time this year. Remember that all tuberous sundews require a dry
summer dormancy, and planchonii more so. It also grows in the sandy areas with
glanduligera, so needs well drained soil (but make sure it doesn't dry out
during the growing season, or they will go dormant too soon). I wouldn't use
tray watering for any tuberous sundews, are the risk of rotting tubers is too
great - water carefully by hand in the top of the pots. If your plants die
back early, treat them as though it is the summer dormancy and wait 'til next
autumn/winter to water again (or until they reemerge if they come up earlier
than expected).
| John Taylor [The Banshee] | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |