D. x eloisiana

As a plant of beauty the natural hybrid Drosera x eloisiana (Drosera intermedia x Drosera rotundifolia) is hard to beat! D. x eloisiana is a rare jewel indeed with few examples across the northern hemisphere, and only a single confirmed location in Britain and Ireland.

Research, using molecular markers (Richards & Culham, 2011), demonstrated that the maternal parent for the British Isles population (undisclosed location), was D. intermedia and the pollen parent D. rotundifolia.

The population is present in at least two stands, separated by around 200 metres. One population has developed in a habitat most closely related to D. rotundifolia, within a rich a bed of sphagnum. The other in an open flushes that gently meander through blankets of sphagnum interspersed with D. rotundifolia, where it lives with impressive patches of D. intermedia.

The D. x eloisiana oodles hybrid vigor and has glorious, vibrant red traps, which can be seen at great distance.

References

Richards, R. & Culham, A. Planta Carnivora, Vol.33, Nr.1, Spring 2011
Bailey, T. Field observations, September 2012.

Photographs, copyright Bailey, T.