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Venus Fly Trap Forms
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| No 1 Full sun colour | Typical VFT | No 3 all green |
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| No 6 Akai Ryu | No 8 Big Mouth | No 6 Akai Ryu |
Venus Fly Trap comes in a range of varieties and is quite variable when grown from seed. Variations may include leaf colour, trap colour, leaf length or thickness, trap size or shape, teeth sizes or growth habit. With new PBR laws there is now a greater emphasis being directed into creating new varieties and we should see a number of new plants available soon.
Like people, all VFT's grown from seed are genetically different from each other with no 2 ever being the same. Many of these differences can be seen visually as the plants grow side by side. Over the years a number of very obvious forms have developed but very few have ever been maintained for long. The last few years has seen an increase in the demand for these variation and a number of growers around the world are starting to care for these plants. On this page I have listed some of the main variation in the species.
Typical VFT is a plant that when mature grows leaves from 3cm to 8cm long with traps 2 to 3 cm. The leaf and back of trap colour in strong sunlight is green-yellow and the trap mouth is a pink-red to blood-red. Winter leaves are short and on the ground and summer leaves will be upright.
Prostrate VFT is a plant that does not grow upright leaves in summer, the trap colour in generally lighter than the typical VFT.
Red Traps are very red than normal. Many forms of this have been developed. Our favourite is one we call big mouth. It is a prostrate grower with very short leaves but huge traps. The inner trap area is a very intense colour and produces colour under much darker conditions to a normal VFT. Big Mouth also produces the largest leaves of any VFT in the spring growth.
All Red VFT this is the most striking of the varieties and has a red pigment through out the plant giving the plant a chocolate brown look. It should really have been named the brown VFT. First reds appeared in Australia and an Australian form has had PBR applied and sells under the name of Royal Red. The best form available is from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and goes under the name of Akai Ryu ( The Red Dragon ). Akai Ryu is a very strong grower and appears to be the darkest of the red clones. It will be interesting to see what will be created from seedlings of this plant.
Dentate Form a new form of VFT, this form is a novelty VFT as its trap teeth are like a saw tooth and quite different from a normal VFT. This form produces early upright leaves in spring and the inner trap surface turns an unusual burgundy in autumn. Only one form of this is know to us.
Upright Form this VFT produces upright leaves almost all year and the inner trap surface turns an unusual burgundy in autumn. Many upright forms exist.
Variegated VFT's variegates occasionally appear but can easily revert to normal.
Miniature Form mini VFT forms occur often with some forms creating a maximum leaf size of only 2 mm.
Mutated Forms These develop mutated traps and a number of forms have been available over the years, some with deformed teeth, others with spikes on the trap or leaves and in some cases multiple leaves per trap.
Click here to see pictures of varieties produced by Paradisia
Venus flytraps are now bred around the world by many commercial nurseries and hobby growers, as a result many new forms will appear in the coming years.
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