Streptocarpus Dimetris

DS-Little Plushy Arctic Fox

Description of the variety

The flower got its name because of the interesting, dark fantasy pattern which resembles the fur of an exotic animal. You will understand when you see this flower in real life. It had a deep, dark petunia background, veined with netting, marked with speckles, and adorned with fine drops of bright rose 'fantasy'. We believe that this flower is the first of its kind. It has medium-sized (up to 7 cm, 2.75’), thick petal flowers supported by firm stems. Rather narrow leaves constitute the medium-sized rosette.

Cultivation

This variety is not demanding. It is very easy to grow and bloom. The plant should not have more than 4 rosettes at time.
This variety is salt-tolerant; dry organic fertilizer up to 3% can be added to older plants.
It is possible that one of the rosettes will start to bloom without fantasy. Rosettes that bloom with plain flowers should be removed to keep the fantasy properties of the plant.
The optimal size of a pot for a two-year plant is 14 cm (5.5’), the maximum is 16 cm (6.25’).



Picture 1

Picture 2

Translation from Russian forum:

Together with others DS-arctic foxes



very prolific bloomer


Quistion from forum
"Among the dozens of varieties Dimetris, which bloom now only Plushy is not loosing it's turgor in hot days without airconditioning. It looks like that it is very resistant to bright sunlight . For me it is a very important quality. I wonder if there are more Dimetris varieties that are resistant to the abundance of sunlight?
Pavel:" Look at the foliage color, which depends on chlorophyll density.
Varieties with lighter foliage, (light green shade) require less light. They have more chlorophyll B and they are shade resistant plants.
Darker emerald green leaves have more Chlorophyll A and therefore need more light and could withstand more light.
About the thickness of the leaves. Varieties that have thicker leaves may also require more light. If the leaves are light green and long and thin, these varieties require much less light.
About xerophytic properties of strepsov.
Natural xerophytic Streptocarpus species have short rounded fleshy leaves. (DS-Pearl Cloudlet, DS-Lacy Cloudlet are the examples of such hybrids.) Therefore, it can be assumed that such varieties may be more resistant to xerophytic conditions. Again, this is only my assumption, I have not done experiments yet.

Question from forum:"Could DS-Plushy sport to violet, not pink?"

Pavel:" No, only pinkish that is the result of adding white to purple. Fantasy obtained in this case not because of different pigments. Fantasy is different level of expression of the same gene (purple pigment)
In the photo below, the boundary of fantasy.
We can see that the color of the pigment is the same, just different density..



Microscope magnification is 400 times. Lighter pink color part has less pigment. That means that it has more natural light (white ) coming through the slide. Another words, adding more white to the pigment give different color.


pictures from forumachane (people from Russian streps forum)





Saint-Petersburg, Russia (on window sill)



Together with D. Thompson Spin Art
http://dimetris.com.ua/forum/files/ds_l ... de_191.jpg