P. agnata

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P. filifolia
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Pinguicula filifolia Wright ex Grisebach (1866)



In the southwestern part of Cuba's main island in the Pinar del Rio province and in the northern region of the Isla de la Juventud there are swampy areas at sea level which are called "sabanas arenosas", home of P. filifolia ssp. filifolia. Plants grow there in open areas between grasses and beside small palms and pine trees. Plants are growing in full sun light only slightly shaded by the neighboring grasses. The moist upper layer of the soil consists of fine white quartz sand, while the soil layer underneath has a high percentage of organic matter. The high solar radiation is even intensified by the reflection of the sunlight through the white sand particles. Air humidity is high all year around, although the local climate has a wet and a dry season. During the rainy season temperatures are in a range between 25 and 28 °C (with night temperatures not dropping below 10 °C), while during the dry season it is hotter with maximum temperatures between 30 and 35 °C during daytime. The dry season ranges from January until April. The life cycle of the plants seem to be highly impacted by the local climatic conditions. During the dry season plants are normally dying and therefore the species is mostly annual. After the first higher precipitations seeds germinate quickly and new plants are growing. Only in 2014 there was a new subspecies described from an isolated area in the northwestern part of the Pinar del Rio province. Due to the solely white colour of the corolla lobes the subspecies was named P. filifolia ssp. alba. Plants of the new subspecies also differs from P. filifolia ssp. filifolia by their shorter leaves, by their higher number of flowers per plant, by their shorter and broader spur and by their smaller seed capsules.




Recent field studies have shown, that during the juvenile stage P. filifolia first forms spathulate leaves, only up to 3 mm long with a rounded apex, that lie in form of a rosette close to the soil. Only afterwards the typical long, fine upright leaves do occur (from which the latin species name "filifolia" is derived from). These yellowish-green leaves can up to 20 cm and are densely covered with glandular hairs. At first sight the plants resemble the North American sundew species Drosera filiformis.


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Main flowering period of P. filifolia starts in the middle of the rainy season end of July or beginning of August. While P. filifolia ssp. filifolia forms between 2 and 3 flower scapes, for P. filifolia ssp. alba a number of 6 to 8 flowers per plant is more typical. The flower scapes can get ever larger than the leaves. The corolla lobes are of equal size, but can vary in form from broadly obovate to more spathulate. While the colour of the corolla lobes with P. filifolia ssp. filifolia vary between white, pale violet, pink and blueish (rarely there have even yellow corollas observed), the colour of the corolla lobes of P. filifolia ssp. alba are only white.  The cylindrical corolla tube is of yellow or violet colour, slightly bent towards the end and covered with brownish or violett parallel running veins. The spur is subcylindrical and gets bigger towards the apex. To obtain seed a pollinator is needed, as in cultivation without the presence of insects there were never any seeds formed. 




The permanent cultivation of this species under Central European conditions seems to be very difficult. The requirements of high solar radiation, hight humidity and tropical temperatures are difficult to simulate. A good aeration of the plants impacts plant health significantly. Under more suboptimal cultivation conditions plants tend to reduce its size continuously and finally rot. A cultivation in pure peat seems possible, but special care has to be take that no larvae of fungus gnats do develop in the soil, as the larvae also eat on the roots of the plants, that could lead to fungus infection of the roots and the plants.