FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have been reading the book "The Savage Garden" and came across this statement concerning D. California Sunset: "Since Drosera ‘California Sunset’ is a cultivar, it should be reproduced only through leaf cuttings, and the seed should be destroyed."

Can someone please explain the reasoning behind this?

It's one person's opinion that the seeds be destroyed, likely to help prevent people from claiming they have a seed grown California Sunset as that would be virtually impossible. It follows the same path as VFT cultivars in that California Sunset has a very specific genotype that can't be reproduced by seeds. At least it's a one in trillions chance. You can easily reproduce the hybrid (filiformis filiformis x tracyi), but it would be very, very, very, very, very (repeat ad infinitum) unlikely to reproduce the exact genetic sequence as the cultivar.
Cultivars of any stripe can only be reproduced by vegetative propagation.

If you want to germinate the seeds, that's your business. However, you should label the offspring as Drosera 'California Sunset' x self. They'll be an interesting mix, some looking like 'California Sunset', some like Drosera filiformis var. filiformis, some like Drosera tracyi, and some falling under the heading of "Where did this come from?!". My 'Dreamsicle' x self plants look this way, too. I've gotten some very red theadleaf sundews from this self-pollination.

Thank you both. That helps clear it up.