FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Cephalotus 'Eden Black's has been one of my favorite, if not my number one favorite carnivorous plant of all time. From the time I saw it, I needed to have one but it was impossible to find. I let the idea go until I followed a thread about some different cephalotus. I left a message with the op half joking about selling me a division and forgot about it. Couple months later he contacted me as well as a few others to see if we were still interested. Absolutely! I had never been so excited for a plant in my life. I chose a plant and he shipped it around early-mid September. It had a few mature pitchers when I received it. Ive never been a pro with cephalotus but a lot of it was my overly cautious approach with them. I decided to do this one differently. It was grown in pretty much room conditions with the grower I got it from so I was like "why not, thats easier" and I decided to experiment with keeping the pitchers filled with half strength Maxsea. It sat for a bit but then EXPLODED with growth unlike anything I had seen with this genus. Within 2 months it began growing numerous pitchers and still isn't stopping.

Since then, I've decided to grow my other cephs the same way. I wanted to share the growth and keep a record of my experience with this plant. Ive recently introduced it to much more intense light so I hope to see it gain the color it is known for. Want to give francisfaustino a shout out for giving me a chance to grow imo one of the coolest cps of all time.

Beautiful Ceph! Makes me really want one lol. It’s a great clone too. Other clones are dark like EB such as OG black and triffid Albany black, but the thing I like so much about EB is it’s fat, stout pitchers in addition to the dark coloring.

Thanks man! And thanks for clarifying the difference there. I was always curious about why other dark clones were considered separate cultivars. I figured it would be some subtle pitcher shape or a vigor thing. I do love the pitchers on this plant though. They do have a different look to them than my other plants. I also noticed this particular plant likes to swing its pitchers up almost 90 degrees with the tips pointed upwards. My others don't really do that. The lids stay "curled" on the edge.

Apollyon wrote: ↑Fri Dec 04, 2020 7:16 pm Thanks man! And thanks for clarifying the difference there. I was always curious about why other dark clones were considered separate cultivars. I figured it would some subtle pitcher shape or a vigor thing. I do love the pitchers on this plant though. They do have a different look to them than my other plants.

Yeah, if you take a close look at different Ceph clones you grow under the same conditions you can really see differences. Some have bigger peristomes, hairier pitchers, more curved, etc. Some plants such as Drosera have very little variations in siblings- all capensis alba pretty much look the same! However, with plants like cephs, helis, VFTs, sarrs etc. there’s tons of variation in the offspring and no two plants look alike. It’s possible that all the dark ceph clones could have originated from the same general location in AU where dark pitchers have proved through natural selection to be better for catching a certain insect or whatever, but I find it more likely that the dark clones occasionally pop up in a batch of seeds just due to natural genetic variation.

However, it would be interesting to cross OG black with Eden Black .

@Nepenthes0260, Not gonna lie, I totally intend to cross this with a hummer's giant too. I'd love to get another dark clone though to see the difference between the two. Crossing them would be interesting too.

I think you're right, especially in cultivation. I think growers find the plant to color up more vividly in a tray and then go on to propagate it. Could be that in the wild, those plants are under more extreme sunlight than their counterparts and have adapted to it. I have noticed the difference between my Sarrs though. I don't have a single leuco that looks like another or a flava. Nepenthes I'm sure would be the same but I've never germinated them before. Hopefully that'll change here soon :/

Ah, I found a pic from when I first received it. I forgot I took one. At this point I was calling it 'Eden Green' lol

Apollyon wrote:@Nepenthes0260, Not gonna lie, I totally intend to cross this with a hummer's giant too. I'd love to get another dark clone though to see the difference between the two. Crossing them would be interesting too.

I think you're right, especially in cultivation. I think growers find the plant to color up more vividly in a tray and then go on to propagate it. Could be that in the wild, those plants are under more extreme sunlight than their counterparts and have adapted to it. I have noticed the difference between my Sarrs though. I don't have a single leuco that looks like another or a flava. Nepenthes I'm sure would be the same but I've never germinated them before. Hopefully that'll change here soon :/

Great idea! It would be cool if you could create a very dark ceph with a huge midrib .

Yeah, under more light any CP will color up more. However, the dark ceph clones such as OG Black, Triffid Albany Black, and Eden Black color up much more easily and get actually black in color. The max some of my other cephs ('Elizabeth', 'Hummer's Giant', "Dudley Watts") will color up is just red.

He offered me one, but, even though it was a screaming deal for an "EB" Ceph, I had to pass due to other obligations at the time.
I knew I would be sorry that I passed, that I should have found a way, but hindsight is 20/20.
Yours looks spectacular! Keep it up.

Oh wow, yours has got quite a few budding pitchers.

For the lids, even though mine is from the same clone mine do not flip themselves outwards. Only the old pitchers that came from the original grower had the lids like that. So it must be a growing condition thing.

In terms of overall blackness, I find that my EB has noticeably darker lids and peristome than other cephs in my collection, but the overall body of the pitcher is not as dark. My Big Boy has a darker pitcher body, while my Queen Mary has more uniform coloration (no green middle ala).

My EB: The middle pitcher here is newer that just colored up, left one I think was from the original grower, which may have affected the ala coloration. Also the lid and throat are definitely more colored than my other cephs Big Boy, the older pitcher on the left is has a super dark body, darker than EB Queen Mary, the coloration is way more uniform, but more "cherry red" instead of dark

Also check out the wild cephs in this video:


Even the red ones that look like they're getting a lot of light don't have lids that are very colored up. I wonder if it's a population difference, I mean some of those lids have undersides that are completely white with no hint of that characteristic 'M' shape.

@ChefDean, I'm sure there'll be a few more going around since there are a few active growers on the forum now. I'll keep that in mind and message you when it comes time to divide.

@Z_Y, Right? It was insane. when the first one broke out from under the "soil" line, the rest started coming out almost daily. No doubt there's a second growth point. Your cephs always stellar man. I particularly like the Queen Mary (let me know if you're ever doing anything with that one lol). Currently I have a typical ceph with a nice dark red/maroon colored body and lid (think I posted it on your ceph thread the other day) that just grew in. My Hummer's Giant has a darker coloration than the EB right now. Perhaps the lid is a growing condition thing. I personally keep it at 78-ish now and relative humidity. Doesn't appear to be a light intensity thing because I had pitchers like that which were solid green when I received it. I decided to take my other cephs out and do the same. It gives me room to put other stuff with them now too. They don't seem too phased and the lids never closed like I was expecting. Of the open pitchers, the smaller ones (the one that is sideways is easier to spot) are the most recent and have opened while under LEDs here. I recently put them closer to the light where the other cephs colored up. I remember you talking about the coloring of pitchers in your care to be different than the grower who sent it to you. I'm hoping to see the newer ones color up more than the originals.

I would guess that it'd be an environmental thing. I would guess sun exposure would be the main factor in the severity of its coloration but there has to be some other factors in the environment (temperature, food source, etc.). Perhaps some populations grow in a much more exposed environment and it is a protection mechanism. Or it's a mutation that was passed down. It's fascinating how different populations acquire different traits that make them unique. Drosera spatulata for instance. I'll definitely check out the video.

Edit: I watched the video. The guy shooting the video was hilarious. Seeing them wild like that, the variation is insane. The white undersides was actually pretty cool. The red one on that cliff face? That was interesting though. It was almost solid red inside too. Genetics possibly? or perhaps the lid tops are being blocked from the sun while the inside gets light so the pattern isn't there. I honestly have no idea but that video was awesome. Thanks for sharing.

This sudden grow after nothing happening has been my experience with this plant. It constantly goes through cycles like this. I think this is a time when the plant is balancing the rhizome and root growth with the foliage above the soil. I believe that when nothing seems to be happening, much of the growth is unseen below the soil. After growing a lot of the roots and rhizome, this is when we see the rapid growth of the foliage.

Apollyon wrote:Cephalotus 'Eden Black's has been one of my favorite, if not my number one favorite carnivorous plant of all time. From the time I saw it, I needed to have one but it was impossible to find. I let the idea go until I followed a thread about some different cephalotus. I left a message with the op half joking about selling me a division and forgot about it. Couple months later he contacted me as well as a few others to see if we were still interested. Absolutely! I had never been so excited for a plant in my life. I chose a plant and he shipped it around early-mid September. It had a few mature pitchers when I received it. Ive never been a pro with cephalotus but a lot of it was my overly cautious approach with them. I decided to do this one differently. It was grown in pretty much room conditions with the grower I got it from so I was like "why not, thats easier" and I decided to experiment with keeping the pitchers filled with half strength Maxsea. It sat for a bit but then EXPLODED with growth unlike anything I had seen with this genus. Within 2 months it began growing numerous pitchers and still isn't stopping.

Since then, I've decided to grow my other cephs the same way. I wanted to share the growth and keep a record of my experience with this plant. Ive recently introduced it to much more intense light so I hope to see it gain the color it is known for. Want to give francisfaustino a shout out for giving me a chance to grow imo one of the coolest cps of all time.

francisfaustino wrote:This sudden grow after nothing happening has been my experience with this plant. It constantly goes through cycles like this. I think this is a time when the plant is balancing the rhizome and root growth with the foliage above the soil. I believe that when nothing seems to be happening, much of the growth is unseen below the soil. After growing a lot of the roots and rhizome, this is when we see the rapid growth of the foliage.

Seems like my experience has been near identical to yours. As you had mentioned on your thread, the plant stopped producing non carnivorous leaves right away. It made a crown of the tiniest non-cp leaves initially before it formed its first pitcher, but since then, there's been nothing. The plant is at work now, I think the pitchers are going to start increasing in size again but I don't think it'll be the same size as the largest on the plant (it was all green). They're progressively coloring up now. I have it like 7 inches under an LED that colored up the others well. I believe you're right about the plant adjusting its foliage to the root system. When working with bonsai trees, you typically take off the foliage equal to the amount of root you cut out so the plant can sustain itself. I imagine it has a fairly intricate system now. There is no doubt in my mind that there are multiple growth points but I have no idea how many are there. The craziest thing is that it split itself and did all that so fast compared to my others. The plant had 5 pitchers(one snapped off when I opened it, RIP) but now there are over 20, easy. It is still pushing out more, I see some creeping through when I water the plant. This plant is better than I could've hoped for. Thank you so much man.

I agree. Cephalotus are very busy under the surface of the soil as they get established and they won't show much growth above ground at times. Then, once they feel like they're well-rooted, they will burst into growth.