Stylidium Debile

A small obsession of mine, the Fragile Triggerplant is one of my favorite plants in my collection. While it isn't a carnivorous plant, scientists have noticed the flowers have a small section underneath that's capable of catching and digesting very small insects. So, a more apt classification might be 'proto-carnivorous!' Who knows, in a few millennia maybe it'll be catching insects full-time!

Rather unassuming at first, when flowering this plant produces a very tall scape dotted with delicate, pink flowers. While this in itself is nice, the real magic happens when the flowers are touched! Like the name implies, the flowers of the trigger plant are spring-loaded! When an unsuspecting pollinator lands on the flower, the stamen is released, spanking the bug and dusting it with pollen! Not only does this prevent self-pollination, it encourages the pollinator to move on to another flower.

This plant is incredibly hardy and reproduces fast enough to even choke out weeds. When I repotted mine, I found an extra root system thick enough to create a layer in a 6" pot, and 20 plant-lets growing up against the sides and out the holes in the bottom of the pot (UNDERWATER). That root system then kept sprouting, and they began flowering less than two months after being transplanted!

Grow this plant like most drosera! Keep them wet, and free of fertilizer, in a nice peat:perlite mixture, and pretty soon you'll be swarming with them!

 

As always, I pick the largest plants first! That probably means they'll be flowering by the time you get them!