FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi. Can someone help me identify my new sundew? I am not sure if they are an admirabilis or aliciae or other species. I just bought this from the supermarket and thought of saving it (they are on sale and at the same time almost dying). The looked like they were almost dying too, since I think they have not watered it perhaps.

Also, can someone tell me the difference between the species and some care tips? Currently, they are planted on a sphagnum peat moss and perlite and quartz sand mix (1:1:0.5) watered with d. Water in a tray, daylight sun (6 hours) then artificial light (cool white LED; 12 hours), relative humidity 40-60%. I wanted to know if they will have any dormancy stages too, fall will be in a month, and I wanted to prep them during the winter.

About my D. regia, my partner gave me a plant for my birthday last June. They were growing pretty well, following the tips I found online. Unfortunately, during the peak of summer (about a month back or so), the leaves stopped producing dew. Then the tips start to turn black, and the sprouts were either short or deformed. I thought it was due to heat shock (temp rose to 35 C peak in mid day, 21 C night). Now the temp had gotten lower (21 C high; 12-16 C low), I thought it was growing back. The two old leaves were still deformed and short, but I saw new leaflets shooting. Is it recovering or should I proceed to root trimming?

I hope you can help me! Thanks!

Here the photos of my regia. Hope they will be fine...

Your sundew is almost certainly Drosera aliciae, a commonly sold species at garden centers and supermarkets/hardware stores. The main differences between it and Drosera admirabilis is that D. aliciae has narrower leaves and a flower scape that curves at the base. There are also minor floral differences.

It seems like your sundew is not getting enough light. How long have you had it? It might just be adjusting to your conditions, because your description of the light setup sound fine. Drosera aliciae does not go dormant in winter and only rarely goes dormant in summer in its native habitat.

Your regia looks like it is growing back well. Your temps sound good and the growth point looks healthy.

Hope this helps!

-mo_carnivore

Oh great! Thanks for the ID. I was convinced first of aliciae but when I saw admirabilis, I got confused. I got them just last Saturday. The supermarket conditions were really bad, so I thought of saving them (including a Sarracenia ‚bug bat‘). They were overcrowded in a pot so I transferred them. 2 plantlets were dying and had molds growing over them. I just looked closely this afternoon, they were starting to produce a little dew. In a few days I am expecting them to be better.

Thanks again!


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I would agree it's almost certainly D. aliciae.

The D. regia looks like it was going dormant, which can happen when it's really hot. I've subjected mine to temperatures as high as 37 this year with far too many days over 32 and my largest plant seems to have the main growth point going dormant now, while the rest and my smaller plants are still growing normally. In any case, it'll be back to normal soon.

Thanks. By the way, the D. regia undergoes dormancy right? Can someone enlighten me on that? I live in Germany and winters can go normally as low as -20 C. Although in most cases -10 C. In order to keep the, from dying, can I place them inside my room, facing the window? I do have a heater so I don‘t know if that will be a problem. I have a VFT, D. rotundifolia, D. binata, D. capensis, S. purpurea, and Sarr bug bat... i know that capensis and aliciae doesn‘t go dormant. But the others are my concern.

Thanks!


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D. regia has a weak dormancy. You definitely don't want to be exposing it to temperatures as low as you mention, but it may still go dormant during winter (and during summer as I mentioned before.) A garage-type area that gets cold without freezing would be ideal but if you don't have that available, your coldest windowsill is the next best thing.

Thanks! Hope to keep them alive! These sundews are crazy awesome!


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