The first flower of 2022 goes to an interesting plant that resulted from 2016 cross I did: S. purpurea montana x flava var. ornata – lidless. This is the first bloom from anything of this batch. For the winter season this, along with a few others plants, have been under lights which has helped push some growth along. Outdoors is a different story; plants out there are still dormant and covered in frost most mornings. Those blooms will follow closer to April/May.

Since no other flowers are available at this time, I selfed this flower. When I didn’t see any lidless plants from the initial cross, I figured it could be a recessive characteristic. The subsequent crosses from this set of plants are ones I have my sights on. By self pollinating this flower, I’m anticipating it will unlock that lidlessness in some of the next generation. One can hope, right? Shorter/stocky lidless plants maybe? Is this approaching heliamphora-esque territory now? Who knows. It’s certainly interesting to think about what those could look like.

Even with the unknown lidless potential, I thoroughly enjoy these plants. They’re interesting and have a great shape and vein pattern about them. Some of the plants that came out of the S. purpurea montana x flava var. ornata lidless cross can be seen here and here.