Pinguicula antarctica

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Taxonomy

Family: Lentibulariaceae
Genus: Pinguicula
Name: Pinguicula antarctica
Local name: Violeta del pantano
Sub-classification (Casper): link
Publication: according to Casper, by Vahl, in Enum. 1 (1827), 192

Description (In Casper)

Perennis, Rhizoma simplex breve radicibus adventitiis filiformibus. Folia 3 - 10 radicalia rosulata ovato-oblonga obtusa vel rotundata subemarginata basin versus angustata margine valde involuta superne glandulis sessilibus dense et glandulis stipitatis modice dense vestita basin versus pilis longis subulatis 11 - 17 mm longa. Hibernacula nulla. Pedicelli 1 - 2 erecti glandulis stipitatis disperse obsiti (25) 45 - 120 (200) mm alti uniflori. Flores parvi 8 - 10 mm longi (calcari incluso). Calyx bilabiatus extus glandulis stipitatis disperse obsius; labium superum usque ad dimidium trilobum lobis oblongis vel triangulis rotundatis obtusis vel acutiusculis 2 - 2.5 mm longis; labium inferum usque ad 1/3 longitudinis bilobum lobis rotundatis vel obtusis vel acutiusculis 1 mm longi. Corolla bilabiata purpurea extus glandulis stipitatis singularibus obsita; labium superum bilobum lobis subrectangulis angulis rotundatis subemarginatis paulum longioribus quam latis 2 - 2.25 mm longis 1.75 - 2 mm latis; labium inferum superum multum longius trilobum lobis subrectangulo-obovatis emarginatis 4 mm longis 3 mm latis basi pilis longis clavatis obsitis. Tubus late conicus petalos subaequans venis obscuris purpureis intus pilosus pilis cylindrico-acutiusculis retro conversis in lineis triabus ordinatis. Palatum basi corollae lobi intermedii labii inferi bipartum vel vesiculatum pilis brevebus clavatis. Calcar breve subrectum saccato-conicum obtusum 1 - 1.5 (3) mm longum cum tubo angulum obliquum subdistinctum formans. Stamina 1.5mm longa; pollen 5 - 6 colporatum. Ovarium subgloboso-ovoideum glandulis stipitatis disperse obsitum. Stigma bilabiatum labio infero obovata. Capsula subgloboso-ovoida 5 mm longa 4mm lata calycem excedens. Semina scobiformia numerosa cylindrico-fusiformia 0.6 - 0.8 mm longa 0.2 - 0.26 mm lata alveolata.

Chromosomata ignota

Origin and History

No data

Location / Map

This species can be found from Tierra del Fuego (south Argentina) to the island of Chiloe in Chile.

Habitat

According to Casper, the habitat can be either sphagnum bogs, wet bare rocks or open swampy pine forest.

Introduction to Horticulture

No data. I bought my first plant in 2000 in Andreas Wistuba’s carnivorous plants nursery and others in 2001.

Growth and Propagation

North hemisphere, France near Paris, in a garden - see the map

Life Cycle

As other South American Pinguicula, this tiny species is homophyllous : Pinguicula antarctica only produced one kind of leaves all the year. There is no production of hibernacula in winter that you can note with Pinguicula alpina for example.

Media

The plants grow in a mix of 1/2 peat and 1/2 non calcareous sand.

Pot

I use a big plastic box

Cultivation

Optimal summer growing conditions are : good air humidity, cool temperature and UV lights so I grow my plants outside all the year in big boxes exposed to direct sun from morning to night. If you succeed in growing Pinguicula lusitanica, you will succeed with Pinguicula antarctica. The plants can support cold winter. I tried a minima of - 8°C last year, in 2001, but I preferred to stop the experience and put the plants inside the greenhouse for the next coldest weeks. Maybe the plants can support heavy frost but I prefer to try later when I will have more plants. The water level in the box is high during all the summer growth and empty in winter to prevent ice formation.

Propagation

I got my first flower in 2002 (a single flower) and collected a good amount of seeds. I sent most of the seeds in Australia for in-vitro culture (good success). I only kept 10 seeds and got only one small plantlet.

In August, two of the mature plants gave birth to one plantlet each around their rosette. Hans Luhrs noted this fact in IPSG Newsletter Vol. 10, Autumn 2000 : “ By the end of spring, flowers fail to appear, and instead new plants had appeared around the old rosette like a cluster. Later that year as I took the plants out of the container, I was surprised to see each new rosette (already full grown) was born from a stolon attached to the short rhizome of the parent plant.”