Cephalotus Eden Black': Cephalotus From Seed. During The Mid-1980s I Bought My First Cephalotus Plant (Which

Cephalotus ‘Eden Black’
Stephen Morley
Introduction
I have been growing Cephalotus follicularis from seed for over 20 years. This is not an
activity to be taken lightly, as it takes at least 10-15 years for a plant to reach maturity
under my normal greenhouse conditions. Of the many plants I have raised from seed
during this time, only one has shown particular promise and is worthy of wider
distribution and cultivar status.
Origins
This particular plant originated from one of my very first attempts at growing
Cephalotus from seed. During the mid-1980s I bought my first Cephalotus plant (which
I still have), which is a normal plant in all regards with average-sized pitchers 3-4 cm in
length, red-coloured in full sun and of useful, vigorous, rapidly clumping habit (my so-
called "vigorous clumping" clone). Shortly afterwards, I was given a superb, large-
pitchered and darkly coloured clone by Dudley Watts (to whom I am eternally grateful);
I now affectionately know this plant as my "Dudley Watts” clone and it is a proven good
grower of larger-than-average size and dark pitchers, with pitchers of about 5 cm in my
growing conditions. Both of these plants were used to produce seed and I regularly
cross-pollinated the two. For a few years during the late 1980s I produced several
batches of seed, many of which were sent to the CPS seed bank and others which I
sowed and grew on myself. From the resultant seedlings I selected and kept two of the
best, most vigorous plants. Both of these plants were unique, but unfortunately only
one of the plants survived over the years…but what a plant! It is impossible to say
whether this plant was the result of a cross or self pollination, but it certainly seems to
possess characteristics of both potential parents.
Figure 1 – Fully coloured pitcher of ‘Eden Black’

Characteristics
The most notable characteristic of this cultivar is the darkly coloured pitchers. I refer to
them as black, which is possibly what some might call artistic licence, but they are
certainly at least as black as many darkly coloured plants of popular garden plant
species given the same description; they are probably best described as dark purple. I
find it almost impossible to capture accurately the colour in any photograph, although
photos do give an impression of the colour, hence I will refer to colour using standard
colours from the RHS colour chart. To be specific they correspond to the RHS mini
colour chart colour RHS 200A (dark brown) when fully coloured. See Figure 1 which
shows a fully coloured pitcher. In contrast, my "Dudley Watts" clone has pitcher colour
corresponding to RHS 187A (dark purple brown). The peristome of ‘Eden Black’
darkens quickly in full sun and the rest of the pitcher follows suit, with the pitcher
eventually assuming virtually the same colour as the peristome; this is unlike any other
Cephalotus I grow, where the pitchers are usually a hue lighter than the peristome.
The dark colour spreads to both the outer and inner surfaces of the lid, even suffusing
the windows with colour. The inner collar of the pitcher also becomes a dull purple
colour in parts.
The pitchers are on the large side, and are at least as big as my "Dudley Watts"
pitchers at 5 cm, although they are getting bigger every year; the plant produced flower
buds in 2005 for the first time, but is possibly not yet fully mature. The pitchers are
elegant, long, relatively smooth and more-or-less straight-sided, lacking very crinkly
pitchers characterising some of the clones available in cultivation. They have a well-
formed peristome and a wide mouth; here they differ from the “Dudley Watts” clone
which is noticeably constricted towards the mouth with a chunky, thickened peristome.
The plant is rather shy in producing non-carnivorous leaves, a trait it shares with my
"vigorous clumping" clone, which is a super characteristic for the grower but not terribly
conducive to propagation from leaf cuttings (non-carnivorous leaves are usually easier
to root)!
This cultivar requires good light to produce optimum colouration and all my plants are
grown in a cool greenhouse receiving full sun all day with no shading, apart from
bubble plastic. Temperatures are in the range of 5oC-35oC. I suspect the pitchers may
reach an even darker colour under higher light intensity than I get here in Yorkshire. In
contrast, they would probably be larger but not so highly coloured under shadier
growing conditions. I do not believe that the dark colour is attributable to unique
growing conditions as the plant is grown alongside seven other different clones in
identical pots and compost and these plants never develop the intense dark
colouration. See Figure 2 which shows 'Eden Black' growing alongside my “Dudley
Watts” and "vigorous clumping" Cephalotus clones for comparison.
Figure 2 - Comparative photograph with my “Dudley Watts” clone on
the left, normal “vigorous clumping” clone in the middle and ‘Eden
Black’ on the right, all grown in identical pots, growing media and
lighting conditions. Pot size is 13.5cm.
Cultivation
The plant is as easy to grow as any other Cephalotus. I grow my plants in a mixture of
approximately 1:1 peat substitute: perlite in relatively deep rose pots. In common with
some dark-coloured Sarracenia clones the intense, dark colour may take a while to
recover following repotting or other stressful incidents. During a rather careless crown-
lifting exercise in the spring of 2006 I accidentally split my only plant into several
pieces. Quite fortuitous I suppose, as it lessens the risk of an individual catastrophic
loss. I also managed to root a few pitcher leaves and have distributed some of these
to other growers in Britain and Europe. To preserve the unique characteristics of the
plant it should only be propagated vegetatively via leaf or rhizome cuttings, or by
division.
Etymology
The cultivar is proposed as Cephalotus 'Eden Black’. The name refers both to my
house name as well as the dark colour of the pitchers.
This article was originally printed in The Carnivorous Plant Society Journal 2006 Vol 29

Cephalotus Eden Black': Cephalotus From Seed. During The Mid-1980s I Bought My First Cephalotus Plant (Which

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cephalotus Eden Black': Cephalotus From Seed. During The Mid-1980s I Bought My First Cephalotus Plant (Which

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cephalotus Eden Black': Cephalotus From Seed. During The Mid-1980s I Bought My First Cephalotus Plant (Which

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cephalotus ‘Eden Black’

Figure 1 – Fully coloured pitcher of ‘Eden Black’

You might also like