Field Trip: UCONN: Part II

Some Sarracenia

After yesterday's post about the first part of my trip to UCONN to see their carnivorous plants which featured the awesome Roridula dentate, I had to follow up with something equally awesome. So, below, you'll find a few photographs of Drosera regia, the King Sundew, and some other fantastic plants.

Drosera regia

Wow! At UCONN, I could really see why everyone wants to own a D. regia. It's huge! The plant above is in a one gallon container. The leaves were nearly a foot long! It was incredible to see!

Drosera regia flower

What was even better? It was in flower! The blooms were quite large. I was very excited to get the chance to photograph those as well as the plant itself, since it is not very common in collections.

Drosophyllum lusitanicum

I also got to see some other rarities, such as the above Drosophyllum lusitanicum, the Dewy Pine. I once tried to grow Drosophyllum from seed, and succeeded with three of the four seeds provided to me. The plants never grew very large, and died off after about six months, but I had much less experience than I do now, so I might try it again sometime, though I'd much rather acquire a Roridula.

Drosophyllum lusitanicum

What was especially neat about UCONN's Drosophyllum was that they had recently bloomed (see above photograph). The brown seed capsule appeared to be developing seeds, a good sign. (From what I remember, the seeds require some sort of harsh stratification method. I used fire, which worked well, though others prefer acid or smoke tablets).

Byblis liniflora

I was excited to see that the curator of UCONN's greenhouse, who was vending a few plants last year at the NECPS October show, and from whom I bought my first Byblis liniflora, had a few seedlings of that species growing in the UCONN greenhouse.

Drosera anglica

There were a few pots full of (tropical) Drosera anglica as well. I was thrilled to finally be able to see this species in person. (In fact, I'm looking for temperate seeds or plants currently, as I'd like to start an outdoor bog garden here in New Hampshire, and the species is known from this USDA Zone (I've moved to Zone 4b). If you have any for trade or sale, please shoot me an email at Natch.Greyes at gmail).

Pinguicula lusitanica

I did find what was apparently a weed in UCONN's collection, Pinguicula lusitanica, quite charming. It's a species that I've never grown, but from its prolific appearance in many, many pots of other plants, I'm guessing it'll grow in just about any temperate location. (Not so secretly, I'm hoping the curator of UCONN's greenhouses brings some to vend at this October's NECPS show).

Brocchinia reducta and other carnivores

I was also excited to see a commonly ignored carnivores, Brocchinia reducta. I used to grow this species, back when I lived in Florida, and found it quite easy. Now, it appears to be quite rare in cultivation. I liked UCONN's specimen, though it wasn't quite as large as UNH's specimen. 

Cephalotus follicularis

UCONN also had a number of Cephalotus plants. It was kind of remarkable to see how small full grown specimens of that carnivore is compared to others species. I may just be used to looking at my baby plant, but it was remarkable how many little plants UCONN had in so few, small pots.

Pinguicula flower

I had to capture a shot of this neat Pinguicula flower. I believe it was off of a Mexican Pinguicula (though I could be wrong about that one). I haven't taken the time to try to ID the species, but I really liked the white star-shape with purple veining. 

Dionaea muscipula

UCONN also had a number of pots of Venus Flytraps, but I didn't see any particularly interesting ones, so, for the sake of space, I'll just share the single photograph above. All their VFTs looked healthy and were happily growing.

Sarracenia

Of course, UCONN had a number of Sarracenia. Indeed, I think they were the majority of the collection, but I'm only going to share a few photos of plants that I thought were particularly interesting.

Sarracenia minor

I really liked seeing the Sarracenia minor that they had, if only because I have a soft spot in my heart for it, and because, at the time, I had a couple different S. minor plants on order from nurseries. I doubt mine will be this large any time soon, but it was certainly neat to see them.

Sarracenia flava

I had to take a photo of this fabulous flava. It was simply stunning! Definitely the coolest Sarracenia in the collection. It had such great color! I hope that UCONN grows it into one of the larger, Sarracenia bushes that were present all around.

Sarracenia

Speaking of Sarracenia bushes . . . It was actually quite neat to see how large the plants could get in their small pots. My guess is that they'll burst out of the pots sooner or later, and UCONN will have to go on a repotting/dividing spree.

Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla

I'll finish up my section on Sarracenia with a photo of an all-green variant of Sarracenia purpurea, heterophylla. It caught my eye as I was scrolling through photos, so it'll have to be the finish.

Drosera binata

Lastly, I had to share a photo of this gigantic Drosera binata bush! It was enormous! The leaves were nearly two feet high! It was incredibly. The only thing I could think was, how could would it be to make a binata ball? If I ever get a greenhouse, it's getting made.