FlyTrapCare Forums

My drosera capensis x spatulata is just starting to send up a flower. Do any of you guys know if this plant can self pollinate, and since it is a hybrid, would the seeds even be viable? Do you guys think I should let a plant this small flower? It is only about 2 1/2 inches across.

It kinda depends on the spat.
Capes are tetraploid plants with 2n=40 chromosomes, as are some spats. However, some spats are 2n=30, and it seems to change around the Wallace Line with the 2n=40 being in northern Asia and the 2n=30 being in southeast Asia and Australia.
If your spat was from up north, you might get viable seed as long as the chromosomes lined up properly during fertilization as it should have produced a tetraploid 2n=40 hybrid. If the parent spat was a 2n=30, then your plant is a 2n=35, the chromosomes couldn't pair up properly, and is likely sterile.
But, and a slim but, there's a chance that the allosomes could have been produced and still lined up to produce viable gametes.
As to self pollination, maybe. Perhaps you could hand pollinate the first 5 flowers and leave the rest alone to see if they do anything.

I just bought the plant online, I don't know where they got the parents, but I would assume the bred their own capes and spats.

Both of those are easily propagated by cuttings, that's likely how they produced them.
However, there's nothing stopping you from trying. Go for it.

Will do.