Dionaea muscipula seed viability beyond 140 days has not been systematically evaluated since Roberts and Oosting (1958), and no published study has compared water germination to conventional soil germination. Seeds of four age groups (2, 14, 26, and 38 months) were germinated using both methods; germination rates and time to germination were recorded weekly over 14 weeks. Seeds remained viable up to 14 months under both methods; seeds 26 months and older were nonviable. Soil germination yielded higher germination percentages (80% vs. 66% for 2-month seeds; 52% vs. 24% for 14-month seeds) and faster germination times. These results extend the known viability window beyond the 140-day threshold reported in 1958 and indicate that conventional soil germination is superior to water germination in both percentage and speed.
Eleven new carnivorous plant cultivars are named and described: Drosera 'Moh. Hatta', Dionaea 'EEC Frosted Melon', Dionaea muscipula 'Bobbit Worms', Dionaea muscipula 'Face Hugger', Dionaea muscipula 'Regina di Cuori', Dionaea muscipula 'Tower of Madness', Dionaea muscipula 'Whac-A-Mole', Pinguicula 'Hanashirabe', Pinguicula 'EcuaCarnis JM', Nepenthes 'Crimson Cthulhu', Sarracenia 'Vampire Bat'.
Review of Montero, H., Freund, M., and Fukushima, K. 2025. Convergent losses of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in carnivorous plants. New Phytologist 248(4): 2040–2051.
From chatter in imperial ballrooms to chat apps in the digital age, the history of carnivorous plant cultivation in Russia has followed the country's shifting social and political landscapes.
Despite publications to the contrary, the hybrid between Sarracenia flava and S. psittacina has been found to occur naturally in areas where the two species overlap. This hybrid is described as Sarracenia × hummeri.
