FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I thought I had posted something on this earlier, but I can't find it now, so maybe I didn't.

Some friends of mine who know that I grow CPs told me about some "weird little plants" they found a couple of years ago on a hike. They thought they looked like some kind of Venus Flytraps. Naturally I was curious, so I checked it out the next time I was in that area. What I found was a huge number of very small Drosera growing in a kind of mountain bog. They're so small that even in the middle of summer, you could easily cover a whole plant with a nickel. Probably as a result of their size they haven't been noticed by the wrong people, or possibly they just aren't worth a poachers effort. Either way, they seem to be completely undisturbed, even though they're in a well-known hiking area.

So here's my question: Even though they're not very impressive to look at, I'd really like to grow a few, particularly since they're native to this area. Obviously I'm not going to dig up any. Even if I were selfish enough to think, "It wouldn't hurt anything if just ONE PERSON takes a few," I wouldn't want to take a chance on drawing any attention from poachers who might wipe them out. But what do you guys think about taking a few seeds, if I can catch them at the right time? Would that be a bad thing to do?

Id say taking some* seeds would be ok.

* not a massive bag.

*What id be tempted to do if it was me , would be to put some seed as you collect a few in a good spot near the parent plant,
so to help more grow.

There is slight ethics to it i guess , as if hundreds passed and collected seed there would be less seed, but if its on a hiking path most people probably dont notice them anyway.

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Saying that sundews propagate themselves far easier from leaf cuttings, so maybe snip one or two leaves* off and plant them by the parent.

* Im sure that would be good "payment" for a few seeds.

Agreed with Jaws. So long as the aforementioned plants are NOT in protected area.

Why not figure out what the plant is then buy some seeds? There is no point in collecting something for your own personal pleasure if the plant is easily available in cultivation.

Personally, I don't see any problem at all with harvesting wild seed to start them growing in your personal collection so long as the plant isn't protected or growing in a protected area. Of course, you'll need to determine the species first to know whether or not it is protected.

Here is the "Wild Seed Collection Policy" as written by the ICPS:
http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedba ... eedPol.php

Thanks, Matt. I believe these are almost certainly D. Rotundifolia, judging from the overall size, and the shape of the leaves. Those aren't on the Imperiled CP Species List on the page you linked, so I guess it would be OK to collect a few seeds. (By a few, I mean probably the contents of one or two pods.) There are quite a lot of them there, so that wouldn't be enough to make an impact on the numbers.

D. rotundifolia can actually get quite large. Try posting pics or at least tell us your relative location. My first thought was capillaris but that depends on where you are located.

Peatmoss. I'm in the mountains of Western North Carolina. I took some pictures last time I was there. I'll post them if I can find them. The descriptions I've seen of D. Rotundifolia say that (at least in this area) it's rarely bigger than a nickel, while Capillaris is typically bigger, and found mostly in the coastal areas, but maybe the descriptions are off.

I just now read that D. Brevifolia also grows here, and apparently it's pretty rare. I'd say that's also a good possibility, given the size of what I found. But then they're also in a boggy area at a fairly high elevation, so they probably have a short growing season, which might dwarf any species.

It's hard to tell much from the pictures I find online, and occasionally they even seem to be incorrectly labeled. Is there a definitive source for ranges and distinctive characteristics of the different Drosera species? I've been looking at the USDA website, but pictures are scarce or nonexistent for some plants, and there seem to be no detailed descriptions.

I guess that the rotundifolia up North may just get bigger... But pics would be great!