FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Yeah they love growing in the bare patches. They are especially good at covering recently disturbed areas as well. Their seeds last many years underground until they are brought to the surface and the. They germinate. Great seed banking ability with this species.

Well, here's one of the tiny giants. I would say that right now I have a 80-85 percent "take" rate on the plants I potted in the native soil. These are beneath some LED lights at the moment (nothing fancy, just some of those "garage" lights with the three tiltable panels on them). This plant is probably 3/4" across.

Nice specimen- doesn't look like D. brevifolia to me, though. Stipules are quite pronounced and the glands don't travel very far up on the petiole at all (compared to D. brevifolia, which is covered with glands nearly up to the attachment point of the leaf). It sounded like these plants were collected from private property in the Southeast US? If so, it checks out with the range of D. capillaris, a superficially similar (and often confused) species in that area as well.

I easily could be mis-identifying these plants. I'm no expert (plenty of folks will attest to that fact!!! ). Location is south Alabama. Looking at wild specimens they all seem to top out around 3/4" to *maybe* 1" across. D. capillaris is well in the range of where I'm at, so that is a possibility. From what I'm reading, though, most D. capillaris get larger than what these plants do...???

I am curious...what are the lighter, almost translucent "hairs" or "feathers" that are reaching upwards from the middle of the plant ???

Oh yeah, Southern Alabama is well within the range of D. capillaris. Those translucent "hairs" at the base of the leaf are stipules, leaflike projections near the attachment point of the petiole. One of the most defining features of D. brevifolia is the glandular petiole, as opposed to the more-or-less subglabrous petiole of D. capillaris. Additionally, I noticed in your photo the spent scape of your plant which does not appear to be glandular, a trait indicating capillaris (scapes always glandular in brevifolia). Size isn't a great identification trait, as so much of that can be accounted for by differing environmental conditions.

I appreciate this information! It made me get on the Internet and do some searching to see the difference! These appear to fall into the capillaris camp. So the brevifolia will have glands all over its leaves, petioles, and scapes. These seem to have some short petioles on them…I wonder, could that be from the dry weather that we had/have?

Intheswamp wrote:I appreciate this information! It made me get on the Internet and do some searching to see the difference! These appear to fall into the capillaris camp. So the brevifolia will have glands all over its leaves, petioles, and scapes. These seem to have some short petioles on them…I wonder, could that be from the dry weather that we had/have?

Most definitely! Inundation/moisture is a condition always affecting the petiole length of D. capillaris. I often find D. capillaris occupying slightly different niches in very close proximity to each other. In these cases, the plants are virtually genetically identical, yet their appearance varies so much based on how wet they've been growing. Sometimes they persist in flooded drainage ditches, and these plants tend to produce very long petioles when inundated to elevate the lamina above/atop the water level. When the water level recedes again, the new leaves are produced on short petioles, while still retaining the skirt of elongated leaves produced during the high water levels.

Thanks for the added info!!! The inundation/moisture condition makes sense in producing longer petioles...reaching up out of the water. Visualizing the image of a capillaris plant with longer petioles around the base and shorter ones towards the center makes for a neat-looking plant! Adapting to it's conditions!! I really appreciate the shared info!

Well, the little D. capillaris plants seem to be settling in. This one is sending up a flower stalk and I think I have maybe another one starting to send up one. It's a coin toss with these...some plants can be annuals and some can be perennials. It's usually stated to clip the blooms if you want a long-lived plant. These seemed to be healthy so I'm going to let them go to seed. Looks like I need to do some hoeing!!!!

This one is *maybe* the size of a quarter (25-cent piece)

Lookin nice and dewy!

@Nepenthes0260 , would you look at these images and let me know if these are brevifolia or capillaris? I *think* I see trap tentacles and possibly tentacles growing on down the petiole. Thanks!

I don't really know the true difference between the two, but if you asked me I would say brevifolia based on pics I've seen.

Those are brevifolia. The leaves are a bit more edge shaped then capillaris and have more tentacles. Your other post says they did after closing which is why brevifolia does as it is an annual.

Thanks for the confirmation!!!

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:52 am @Nepenthes0260 , would you look at these images and let me know if these are brevifolia or capillaris? I *think* I see trap tentacles and possibly tentacles growing on down the petiole. Thanks!

These are most definitely brevifolia! Nice!

Often times both species can be found co-occurring with capillaris in slightly wetter depressions.