D. alba and D. trinervia flowers-pics!

[Brian Barnes]

Hello All! Here's a few shots of some gorgeous South African Drosera flowers. I've made some interesting discoveries between the two species' flowers, which are from basically the same area in the wild. Let's start with; D. alba...The time of the photographs on both species is 5:30 EST.

And now, D. trinervia;

The interesting thing is...D. trinervia closes like clockwork at 5:30 pm each day. D. alba stays open 24 hrs. a day, even with multiple flowers open at the same time in total darkness.
Both plants are in identical growing conditions and photo-periods in my growth chamber consisting of 14 hrs. a day.
Could this be a safeguard against natural hybridization in the wild between the two mentioned Drosera sp., with D. alba being pollinated mainly by night time-active insects?
I think this might be a tasty topic for discussion and would love to hear some opinions on the anomaly.
Happy Growing!
Brian

[DroseraBug]

The interesting thing is...D. trinervia closes like clockwork at 5:30 pm each day. D. alba stays open 24 hrs. a day, even with multiple flowers open at the same time in total darkness.
Both plants are in identical growing conditions and photo-periods in my growth chamber consisting of 14 hrs. a day.
Could this be a safeguard against natural hybridization in the wild between the two mentioned Drosera sp., with D. alba being pollinated mainly by night time-active insects?

Great photos!

OK, I understand that D. trinervia closes at 5:30p.m. each day and D. alba is open 24 hours. Is it known that D. alba is pollinated mostly by nocturnal insects? If so I think it is an interesting hypothesis but if not then couldn't natural hybridization occur before 5:30 p.m. given that both flowers would be open at the same time?

A thought:
Do either of these species self pollinate more readily than the other? Could D. alba rely less on autogamy and possibly adapting to this via longer anthesis (flowers open longer to enhance cross-pollination) vs D. trinervia relying more on autogamy? Just a guess. May be a good experiment. Set up atleast three replicates of each and see which has the greater selfing vs. cross pollination seed set under same optimum conditions.

Has anyone tried cross-pollination between these two species?
They are beautiful plants. What temps and environmental conditions are you growing yours in soil, water, humidity etc.?

[Brian Barnes]

Hey DB. Actually, i've tried several times to cross pollinate the two, but they are not receptive, at least in my experiences.
D. trinervia self pollinates readily at flower closing. D. alba will not self pollinate, despite all of my efforts...
Both are grown in ideal temps, side by side and are very healthy, 78F by day, 72F by night under grow bulbs, on a 14 hr. period.
I'll continue my study.
Happy Growing,
Brian.