It came from a land down under

[Ifurita]

I love this Ping, its been one of the most fuss free thus far, seems immune to mites and best of all, it can go purple under relatively low light levels. Check it out:

This is under T5 lights, which as CPers would know, can get D. falconeri and various other Pings and Drosera to go red.


Not very impressive, huh? But this is in bright shade. It was a darker purple a few months ago when the weather was warmer and it wasn't the current gloomy weather.

[piscesilim]

Pinguicula 'Aphrodite'?

[Ifurita]

Originally Posted by piscesilim

Pinguicula 'Aphrodite'?

Nope, its Pinguicula 'Down Under'

[Tarence]

hi Ifurita, I have this too , given to me like 2 years ago....mine`s a bit mis-shapen = fat broad leaves altho initially it looked like yours. some growers reported it going crimson like yours but under outdoor growing conditions, mine remains green. It was given to me as P.Aphrodite but I haven`t really checked what it`s actually called.

[Ifurita]

Hi Tarence,
Your's is probably P. 'Aphrodite', since it was given to you as that. P. 'Down Under' is a different cultivar. Both plants look similar as they both have P. moctezumae as a parent(in fact, almost anything with P. moctezumae as a parent looks somewhat like this). However, P. 'Aphrodite' has P. agnata as its other parent, while 'Down Under' has P. emarginata as its other parent.

The differences between the two are not easy to tell without actually growing the plant: 'Aphrodite' has larger leaves and larger flowers, plus it forms a winter rosette, while 'Down Under' is smaller, does not form a winter rosette, but turns red far more easily and never really loses the red colour, even under shade. Its flowers also have darker veins.

I hope to grow 'Aphrodite' someday, I really like Pings with leaves of this kind.

[Tarence]

Hi Ifurita,

thx for the info....when you say that "you like pings with leaves of this kind" meaning the shape of the leaf or the fact that it has a capability to turn red easily ? just curious.

my 2 p.aphrodites are actually bursting out of their small shared pot. time to repot, heheh.

[jeff]

nice plants.

have you a flower to determinate ?

actualy you have a lot of hybrids , with moctezumae and gypsicola like a first parent.

jeff

[Ifurita]

Originally Posted by Tarence

Hi Ifurita,
thx for the info....when you say that "you like pings with leaves of this kind" meaning the shape of the leaf or the fact that it has a capability to turn red easily ? just curious.

Hi Tarence,
Actually, I like both, haha. However, most of the Pings with leaves of this shape tend not to turn red easily, at least not under my conditions. The very few Pings which do go red under my conditions all have the more typical Ping form/leaf shape except for this one and baby gypsicolas(the adults don't go red for me).

Originally Posted by jeff

nice plants.

have you a flower to determinate ?

actualy you have a lot of hybrids , with moctezumae and gypsicola like a first parent.

jeff

Hi Jeff,

Nope, I got both plants as tiny babies, so neither has flowered for me as yet. I know there are a lot of hybrids/cultivars using moctezumae and gypsicola as the parent(s). These were personally given to me by the creator of this particular cultivar himself, so I'm quite sure of the ID.

[jeff]

a lot of ping leaves turn in red or pink with the UV it is a normal antocyane or caroten reaction.

some ping have some natural red leaves( peren ) like here in europe P.poldinii and P.longifolia subsp longifolia f pinetensis .

some others temperate 'in situ' with big UV turn in red , P.alpina ; P.balcanica ,some time grandiflora subsp grandiflora . A subtropical US turn easily also in red P.planifolia .

OK for the hybrid , when you have the flower post the picture

jeff