Vft Schuppensteil - Upright Red Traps

I got some unnamed Venus flytraps a year or two ago.  These were cheap as it was a mix of varieties and the names had been lost.  There was a lot of genetic diversity among them.  Most of them I sold to make a little pocket money to spend on more plants.

One of them impressed me, so I kept it and called it 'upright red traps'.  This plant grew tall upright leaves over summer, and the trap interior got very red in strong light.  Over winter they die back to almost nothing.  This isn't a bad thing in itself. 

I took some cuttings, and divided the mature plant, and was pretty happy with this plant.  

More mature plants started to develop leaf scaling and I think it may be Schuppensteil, but I am not certain.  Below are some photos of the scaling that started to develop on plants that were coming out of dormancy.  They got a lot more red inside the traps as the season progressed.

Much like the descriptions I have read of Schuppensteil, the scaling on the petioles is a trait that is acquired with maturity and only in summer; younger plants and plants early in the grow season will often not express this until later.  That sounds a lot like what my plants did.

The scaling got a lot more prominent than can be seen in these photos, but I don't have any pictures of that because the plants were damaged in a storm and reverted to smooth petioles for the rest of the season.  

The traps on this variety got rather large and the trap interiors becomes very dark red in strong sunlight.  The traps were certainly nowhere near as large as 'Big Vigorous' or 'DCXL', but they were still impressive.

Upright Red Traps is a vigorous grower for me.  It produces tall growth and intense red colour inside the traps.  It seems to grow pretty easily from leaf pullings and flower stalk cuttings.  

Over winter, while dormant, the thing basically disappears.  That is nothing to be afraid of, it just means that if there is hail or something the plant will not sustain any damage.  

For me they seem to produce a few natural divisions per year, which means I can increase their numbers with no real extra effort on my behalf. 

As I am not certain of the variety I will continue to call these 'Upright Red Traps'.  I will sell/swap some in the warmer months along with other carnivorous plants and perennial vegetables I have for sale.  If you are interested they will be listed on my for sale page.