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Dionaea 'Justina Davis' PDF Print E-mail
Written by Matt   
Monday, 05 May 2008 12:27
Dionaea 'Justina Davis' plant
Publication: Growing Carnivorous Plants by Barry Rice. Page 80

Registration Date: December 6, 2006

Breeder: Unknown. Not specified in the publication. Barry Rice?

Nominant: Barry Rice

Registrant: Barry Rice

Description: Quoted from Growing Carnivorous Plants by Barry Rice: "This new cultivar name designates a bright green plant that has been in cultivation for many years. It is characterized by the complete lack of orange or red pigmentation in the leaves, even when the plant is grown in full sun. It is commonly grown with unregistered names such as "all green, "green traps," or "heterodox," but beware, not all clones are truly lacking orange or red pigmentation! The electric green leaves of the true 'Justina Davis' can be mistaken for fresh young traps that have not yet had time to develop mature characteristics. The name 'Justina Davis' commemorates the wife of Arthur Dobbs, who was a mere 15 years old when she married the governor of North Carolina in 1762."

Propagation: Not stated in the publication, but I am guessing through vegetative reproduction.

Etymology: After the wife of the governor of North Carolina. The governor of North Carolina was the first person to write about the Venus flytrap or Dionaea muscipula

Purchase: Buy 'Justina Davis' Venus Flytrap at the FlytrapCare Store

Dionaea 'Justina Davis'. Seems to have a little red pigment in it!

Background: Is Dionaea muscipula 'Justina Davis' truly worth of cultivar status? I'm not so sure. It seems to me that 'Justina Davis' does in fact have some red or orange pigment inside the traps. I received a specimen from Robert Ziemer. It was a division from his adult plant that he got from David Conner. David Conner writes on his store page that he obtained a clone directly from Barry Rice, the registrant of the plant, so I am fairly certain that my 'Justina Davis' plant is of pure pedigree. However, if you notice in the photo to the right, there is definitely some red or orange pigmentation on the inside of the trap. I am growing my plant outside in Boulder, Colorado in full sun. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the description and standard of the 'Justina Davis' venus fly trap, but I thought that it would have absolutely no red or orange pigmentation, even on the inside of the traps. I have also read some discussions on forum boards debating the same question about coloration. Please comment below if you have something you would like to add.

Update on May 16, 2008: I was emailed by David Conner with regards to the pinkish inside of some of the traps of 'Justina Davis'. He acknowledged that the plant does have a slight pink blush in the interior traps and went on to say that "a large number of the small/medium sized specimens cloned from tissue supplied by Barry Rice also exhibit this characteristic, however, a number of larger mature flowering sized specimens appear to be holding their all-green color."..."Barry (Barry Rice) and Bob (Robert Ziemer) have postulated that the pink blush is an anomaly of slight genetic variance picked up during tissue culture. I'm not so sure, because of the preceding observations, and the fact that all the other VFT cultivars I've cloned in the same manner using tissue culture, appear "true-to-Type". Also, as noted in Siggy's video "Snap Tentacles and Runway Lights" he's discovered that young Drosera binata seedlings have the "Snap Tentacles" which disappear as the plant grows larger. Perhaps a similar thing is happening with the pink/red coloration present in young JDs and HCWs? I'll be watching the JD clones to see if the reversion from pink to all-green is prevalent...

So perhaps the pinkish interior is only present in adolescent plants? I guess time will tell with my clone. If any other growers out there have thoughts about this topic, please post a comment below.

Photo Gallery: Dionaea 'Justina Davis' Photo Gallery

Comments (8)Add Comment
0
The mysterious blushing Justina
written by Barry Rice, June 06, 2008
Hey Matt,

Marvelous web site.

As I have noted elsewhere, the 'Justina Davis' plants in my collection are all-green, and do not show the quite obvious pink blush that your plants have. I grow my plants in intense light, and all my other Dionaea clones have great color. A number of people are studying this and looking into possible explanations. All quite interesting.

The theory about changes in TC plant is interesting, and relatively new to me, as well. But apparently this sort of phenomenon is more commonly encountered in the orchid trade, where mericlone sports are more well known.

Cheers

Barry
Matt
Re: The mysterious blushing Justina
written by Matt, June 06, 2008
Hey Barry,

Thanks for the compliment on the website. I put a lot of time and effort into it. I hope to grow it into a community for Dionaea lovers!

Thanks for chiming in on the topic of 'Justina Davis' having a pink blush. I would be interested to hear from other growers of 'Justina' to see what their experiences have been. It definitely sounds like there are 'JD' plants out there that don't have any pink or red trap interiors. The photo of the plant in your book, Growing Carnivorous Plants definitely appears to be completely void of any pink or red interior.

I agree that this subject is quite interesting and the TC sport theory sounds like a valid one.

Matt
Niels
...
written by Niels, April 23, 2009
Hi Barry and Matt,

It is believed that Justina Davis plants are unable to produce anthocyanin and is a so called anthocyanin-free clone.
This is possible if the first JD clone underwent a mutation that interferes with the biosynthesis pathway of the red pigment anthocyanin. Therefore, red coloration is impossible in true JD plants.
Matt, i'm afraid this means that the pictures above are not from a JD plant, unless it had a reverse or compensating mutation that restored the biosynthetical pathway of anthocyanin. Saying that the chance of this happening is slim is a BIG understatement. We're looking at probabilities of 1 x10^-12 and smaller here.
Niels
...
written by Niels, April 23, 2009
Matt, did your JD grew up to an all green adult?

Disclaimer: what i'm writing next is pure speculation and not based on any scientific fact!
If your plant became all green in adulthood, it's not ruled out that you have an anthocyanin-free clone. It is possible that this biosynthetical pathway requires a lot of energy (hence the red coloration in other clones is triggered by bright sunlight) but another pigment is being synthesized in adolescent plants (a pink/orangy pigment opposed to the red anthocyanin). This 'other' pigment synthesis may be arrested in adult plants, leading to an all-green adult.
Matt
Re: ...
written by Matt, April 24, 2009
Niels,

Yes, my plant seem to be all green now. I haven't seen any pink in it since I took this photo.
0
JD Blushes!
written by Clue, September 03, 2009
Well, apparently, it's not so rare to have the pinkish coloration in the traps. I just recently got the plant from a nice member on TF.smilies/wink.gif It's traps are a whopping inch long, and has a three inch wide diameter, so I'm assuming that it'll try and throw up a flower next year. How large was yours when it stopped blushing?

(It may just be an impostor, but I doubt that. smilies/tongue.gif)
Matt
Re: JD Blushes
written by Matt, September 03, 2009
It seemed to only blush in the spring when I got it. Later in the summer it didn't and this year it didn't either.
0
venus fly traps
written by maggie, October 03, 2010
i have a justina davis and some traps have a slight pinkish coloration, wheras others are a gorgeus green smilies/cheesy.gif it also was very small and quite sickly when i first got it but it just keeps growing more and more traps ever since it flowered! smilies/grin.gif

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Last Updated on Sunday, 07 August 2011 15:25