mouthstofeed wrote:I am beginning to think most cultivarieties are really just growing conditions.
Certainly, growing conditions play a role in what most flytraps look like. If not given good conditions, no flytrap will look very good. In particular, without sufficient light leaves and traps won't form normally and that would compromise the appearance of any flytrap.
However, there are quite a number of cultivars out there that are very, very easily distinguished from others. Cultivars like Coquillage, Crocodile, Korean Melody Shark, Wacky Traps, and other freaks are always very easy to pick out of a lineup. And I can fairly easily identify most of my favorite flytraps like Jaws, SD Kronos, DC XL, Low Giant, Red Piranha, FTS Maroon Monster, FTS Crimson Sawtooth, and others that I've grown for a number of years even when they're unlabeled if they're actively growing and not dormant. Most dormant flytraps all look very similar -- other than the freaks!
Unfortunately, there have been quite a few growers who have named other cultivars that look almost exactly like already-named plants. Flytraps like
Mars, which looks identical to Wacky Traps as far as I can tell, have come along and the number of duplicate cultivars out there (or nearly duplicate cultivars -- some do have very minor differences) is getting pretty ridiculous now.