Re: Fly-traps

From: Phil Wilson (cp@pwilson.demon.co.uk)
Date: Wed Oct 07 1998 - 14:30:35 PDT


Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 22:30:35 +0100
From: Phil Wilson <cp@pwilson.demon.co.uk>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3235$foo@default>
Subject: Re: Fly-traps

Hi,

>With all the talk on Fly-traps in the last digest, I was wondering: Is anyone
>doing any line-breeding for size in Dionaea? I am thinking of isolating all
>of the larger clones I have and interbreeding them to see if the size can be
>pushed a bit. A 12" diameter plant with 3" traps might be a reality?!?
>
Yes I have started down this road but it is very early days yet. This
year is my first serious attempt at crossing the various Dionaea clones
which I have collected over the previous few years. The largest clone I
have so far has traps in excess of an inch and three quarters and
particularly long petioles giving. Potentially this plant can reach
eighteen inches from trap to opposite trap - quite a monster. I say
potentially as the neccesity of allowing the plant to set seed reduces
trap growth and production. This clone has been unofficially names as
South West Giant - a reference to a Carnivorous Plant nursery here in
the UK rather than any reference to the South Western USA. I know that
it cannot be named as a cultivar without first being published and AFAIK
a text is in preparation.
>
>Many of the plants do not seem to produce the spindly summer tall leaves and
>instead keep the tight ground-hugging rosettes year-round. These are much
>prefered. Is this known to be genetic or cultural?
>
It is certainly something I have observed and it would appear to be
genetic rather than environmental although AFAIK no work has been
carried out to establish this as a fact. I have also observed clones
which consistently produce the long spindly petioled traps all year
round.

Regards,

-- 
Phil Wilson



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