FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I've never seen a regia seed and got a few a while back. I made up a couple of pots for them today but when I opened the envelope I really couldn't tell what was what. I went ahead and planted everything. Can someone point out which are D. Regia seeds? I understand they are supposed to be larger than standard drosera seeds. I marked what I thought might be some with the red "x's".

Thanks! Just trying to figure this out!

Yes, Drosera regia seeds are shaped like commas, or crescents.
Here's a photo from an E-Bay ad.

Good luck with them.
Mike

It looks like your seeds were crushed in the mail unfortunately, though there might be a few intact ones left. How long ago did you get those seeds?

No, they weren't crushed, that's just flower debris. The donor had a very productive set of plants and got tired of separating the seeds out, so a bulk amount of regia "extra" became available in a lower tier. The recipients just had to do the legwork of separating the seeds from the chaff.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:21 am The recipients just had to do the legwork of separating the seeds from the chaff.

Or just sprinkle the contents -- chaff 'n all -- on your media. (Afterall, this happens in nature.)

I went ahead and planted the entire contents on top of finely chopped (blendered) LFSM. I looked with a magnifying glass and a 100mm macro lens with a short extension on it and couldn't really discern a seed. How would the seeds compare in size to seeds from D. filiformis Florida Red White Flower?....or maybe to seeds from D. Intermedia? I'm looking at the image on my 24" monitor and really can't point to a seed. This was a small batch a kind fellow sent me. I also got a packet of the "Regia extra" from the seed bank and planted it, also. By this time I was a bit disappointed in my seed identification skills and just picked the big pieces of flower stalk and obviously flat debris out and planted the rest. We'll see how it goes.

As for being crushed...I dunno. On the small packet I got it was clearly written "Non Machineable"...with definite machine marks on the envelope. Thank you USPS for going the extra mile.

ChefDean wrote:No, they weren't crushed, that's just flower debris. The donor had a very productive set of plants and got tired of separating the seeds out, so a bulk amount of regia "extra" became available in a lower tier. The recipients just had to do the legwork of separating the seeds from the chaff.

Well if that's the case I've never seen any flower debris that's quite so seed-shaped before, and there aren't any seeds in that picture. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Intheswamp wrote:As for being crushed...I dunno. On the small packet I got it was clearly written "Non Machineable"...with definite machine marks on the envelope. Thank you USPS for going the extra mile.

Yeah you can't ever trust postal workers to read and obey written instructions like that. Even if they wanted to, I really doubt they have the time with how much mail they have to handle on a daily basis.

Since its brought up…will this single regia flower stock be any use?

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 2:17 pm As for being crushed...I dunno. On the small packet I got it was clearly written "Non Machineable"...with definite machine marks on the envelope. Thank you USPS for going the extra mile.

I stamp my seed envelopes "Non-machinable" in red ink and pay extra for the non-machinable postage. Even then, I still put a thin, foam pad under and over the seed bag, which is taped to a piece of paperboard almost as large as the envelope. That is the only way I can successfully get seeds to their destination. If my envelope jams the machine because the postal workers ignored the red ink and the special stamp, then they get what they deserve.

Mike, I know you pack your plants well and no doubt your seed packets, too. These were in a windowed piece of cardboard, but no padding, pretty much like every other packet of seeds that I've received (probably over a dozen). I don't think I've ever really had an issue with them.

I tried my regular "make a paper tray"and tap lightly but sharply to see if any seeds rolled downhill but never saw any "suspect rollers". Hopefully my eyes were just not sharp enough to spy them in the chaff. But, are regia seeds larger than, say, d. filiformis Florida Red seeds? The reason I ask is that after planting the regia seeds (hopefully ) I winnowed some Florida Red seeds from a couple of flower stalks from a plant that's been blooming. I had plenty of visual sightings of those seeds. Would have the regia seeds been easier to see? I'm not definitely not complaining being as these were all gifted to me, one way or another, and I'm thankful for them...I'm just trying to get my bearings here on size.

Intheswamp wrote:Mike, I know you pack your plants well and no doubt your seed packets, too. These were in a windowed piece of cardboard, but no padding, pretty much like every other packet of seeds that I've received (probably over a dozen). I don't think I've ever really had an issue with them.

I tried my regular "make a paper tray"and tap lightly but sharply to see if any seeds rolled downhill but never saw any "suspect rollers". Hopefully my eyes were just not sharp enough to spy them in the chaff. But, are regia seeds larger than, say, d. filiformis Florida Red seeds? The reason I ask is that after planting the regia seeds (hopefully ) I winnowed some Florida Red seeds from a couple of flower stalks from a plant that's been blooming. I had plenty of visual sightings of those seeds. Would have the regia seeds been easier to see? I'm not definitely not complaining being as these were all gifted to me, one way or another, and I'm thankful for them...I'm just trying to get my bearings here on size.

D. regia seeds are some of the largest sundew seeds. Fully developed seeds will be 1.5-2mm long and since they aren't round (see Mike's picture above) you can't sort them with the rolling trick.

I found that by rotating the envelope 90 degrees so that its orientation is portrait instead of landscape, and paying the extra postage works for keeping them from being eaten by machines. It does take a few days longer because it has to be hand sorted. They don't even waste their time postmarked the stamp.

Gotcha. I should've photographed the larger batch that came from the seed bank..."regia extra". I want to say I did spot some possible seeds in it...about like the smile on a regular smiley.

They're all in the oven now, so hopefully we'll see some green specks in a couple of weeks. I do have a question about temperature. It is warming up nicely(not) down here in lower Alabama. The extended forecast is for low-90Fs daytime and mid-60's nighttime. Is that too warm for regia germination?

Panman wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 12:15 am I found that by rotating the envelope 90 degrees so that its orientation is portrait instead of landscape, and paying the extra postage works for keeping them from being eaten by machines. It does take a few days longer because it has to be hand sorted. They don't even waste their time postmarked the stamp.

I see what you're doing...putting the stamp in the "wrong" corner so that they have to manually handle it. Very interesting. This also explains the "disgruntled postal employee" phenomenon.