Drosera capensis Hercules

I was given a small plant of Drosera capensis 'Hercules' by an extremely generous person.  As far as I know there are very few of these in Australia.

At first this plant grew well for me, then it died back somewhat.  It grew larger, then died back again.  It kept doing this and each time it died back to a larger plant and grew larger than the previous time.  

Drosera capensis 'Hercules' foreground, 'typical' and 'alba' in background

Drosera capensis Hercules

I originally had it growing in a pot with Drosera capensis 'True Giant'.  The capensis true giant is an interesting clone, but that is a story for another time.  I should have had them both in their own pots from the start, but I had issues buying peat moss.

I had it growing inside my house next to some typical and alba capensis, so figured the position was not too bad.  It turns out that my capensis Hercules did not like this position, its leaves got stretched out and is started to lose colour.  I don't think it had enough sunlight there.

Capensis Hercules Petioles are about 4mm to 5mm wide

I moved it outside, where it grew a little but was really not happy.  I moved it back inside again and expected a better result.  I tried a few different positions and eventually moved it to my greenhouse, and put it in its own pot, where it has really started to grow.  

I am not sure if it is the location, or having its own pot, or the incredible number of insects it catches, but it is now growing well.  To be honest, I can't imagine having a greenhouse without a few carnivorous plants to control the insects.

Drosera capensis 'Hercules' catching a lot of insects

This year my Hercules sent up a flower scape.  It grew many, many flowers and the scape grew incredibly long.  

The flowers on capensis Hercules are absolutely huge, far larger than any capensis flower I have seen.  

The seeds have just started to ripen.  I plan to plant a few and see what the seedlings are like.

Drosera capensis Hercules flower

This plant was originally registered as an interspecific hybrid between Drosera capensis 'alba' and Drosera aliciae.   The current belief is that this is a wide leaf variant of Drosera capensis.  

From what I have been told, capensis Hercules grows reasonably true from seed, which indicates that it may be pure capensis rather than a hybrid.  My first seedlings are still tiny, so it is too early for me to know how true to type they will grow for me.

The leaves on capensis Hercules are rather wide.  Which is similar to, but distinct from other wide forms of capensis.  The leaves grow reasonably long.  

The leaves and flowers have the same colouration as typical capensis.  The young leaves seem a little hairy before they have unfurled.

Capensis Hercules is a really nice looking plant.  Strangely enough I don't have any nice photos of my capensis Hercules plant.  The leaves never look picturesque and dewy because each leaf catches so many tiny insects.  This is a good thing, it means my plant is well fed and (more importantly) it means that there are far fewer tiny insects flying around in my greenhouse.

Drosera capensis Hercules on left, capensis True Giant on the right

The capensis Hercules flowers are truly massive.  They are the same colour as typical capensis flowers.  The scape grew very long, and had a lot of flowers.  Much like typical capensis, the first flowers to open drop seed while the last flowers are still buds.

From what I have seen they set seed and appear to be highly self fertile.  Again this tends to indicate that they may not be an interspecific hybrid.

capensis Hercules flowers are HUGE

Young plants of capensis Hercules and True Giant 

The capensis Hercules plant I am growing was taken as a cutting from a clone, meaning it is the true Hercules.  Seed grown plants may be slightly different and should never be labelled as Hercules.

I sell some carnivorous plants through my for sale page.  If I sell or trade any seed grown plants I will make sure that they are labelled Hercules x self or something to indicate that they are not the true Hercules clone.  If I ever trade the true Hercules clones I will also make sure to label this to distinguish between them and its seedlings.