Nano Nursery · Rare Carnivorous Plant Encyclopedia
A white trap, a pale leaf and a red-spotted rosette can arise in very different cultivated selections. The pattern’s position, the leaf’s age and the time of year matter as much as its colour. These five published Venus flytrap cultivars offer useful comparisons, while also showing where a grower’s visual observation stops short of a physiological explanation.
Blanche Hermine: a white selection recovered from a cutting
Guillaume Bily’s 2012 description traces ‘Blanche Hermine’ to a white sport from a variegated plant found in 2008. A cutting taken before the original plant died produced the very pale selection. Bily observed renewed growth the following spring and inferred that some chlorophyll must remain, even though it was difficult to see. He described slow growth and successful multiplication by leaf and bulb cuttings. [1]
This is an account of a surviving cultivated plant, not a laboratory measurement of pigment concentration. Calling it completely chlorophyll-free would go beyond the evidence. Nor does a white appearance mean that a newly acquired plant is this cultivar: the history connects a particular selection to its published diagnosis.
The original parent’s loss to frost is a historical event. It does not establish a tested minimum temperature for the cultivar or justify a claim that every pale flytrap has identical cold tolerance.
Phoolan Devi: a green-to-white seasonal change
Bily’s 2014 description records a plant discovered in 2009 whose spring leaves are green and whose foliage becomes white in summer. The account reconciles the earlier, unregistered local label Pâle with ‘Phoolan Devi’. It provides photographs of successive seasonal appearances. [2]
The important distinction is a sequence, rather than one permanently white display. A spring photograph of green growth does not by itself contradict the published account. Conversely, bleaching in a plant of unknown origin is insufficient evidence for assigning this name. The source does not provide a controlled light trial, pigment assay or cultivar-specific watering regime. Those gaps should remain visible instead of being filled with a special recipe inferred from the colour.
For a collection record, retain the date and growing environment with each photograph. Comparing several successive leaves from the same accession is more informative than comparing one pale leaf with a photograph taken in a different season.
Sirius: white traps above green leaf bases
Christophe Boiteux found the plant in 2012 under the descriptive label dentate clone 2. His 2014 diagnosis describes pink-red early spring traps followed by progressively paler new traps, eventually white in summer. The leaf bases remain green. He contrasted its vigour with ‘Blanche Hermine’ and reported stable characters after rhizome division, requiring vegetative propagation. [3]
The position of the colour is the useful comparison: trap and leaf base do not follow the same pattern. The author attributed continued vigour to the green tissue’s photosynthesis, but supplied no comparative measurements of carbon gain. That distinction allows the observation to remain useful without turning it into a quantified physiological claim.
The earlier nursery label belongs in the accession history. It should not be treated as an additional registered cultivar, or as evidence that every plant sold under a similar numbered dentate label is ‘Sirius’.
Scarlatine: red speckling on a yellow-green background
Lucien Blacher bred ‘Scarlatine’ from ‘Dentate Traps’ × ‘Royal Red’ in 2008 and named it in 2011. The 2012 diagnosis combines irregular short dentate-to-sawtooth margins with red speckling on a yellow-green trap and leaf base. Rhizome or leaf cuttings preserve the selection. Scarlet Fever is the English rendering supplied with the name. [4]
The name refers to the visual impression of the spots; it is not a diagnosis of an infectious condition in the plant. It is also not a second name for every red offspring of those parents. The selection is identified by its documented combination of characters.
When comparing spotted plants, include the leaf base in the photograph. A close-up showing only a red area inside one trap omits part of this diagnosis and makes it easier to confuse different patterns.
Spotted Hyena: pattern, posture and an uneven edge
Tobias Sicking’s 2015 description records a plant found in Germany in 2013. Its red traps bear lighter and darker patches on both surfaces, together with uneven rims and irregular teeth. The account distinguishes its low growth and broader leaf bases from the upright, slender-based ‘Spotty’. It also contrasts the irregular trap margins with the smoother outline attributed to that comparison cultivar. Vegetative propagation is required. [5]
This supplies more information than the word spotted. A credible comparison needs the rosette’s posture, leaf-base width and trap edge as well as the distribution of colour. The account does not establish that every spotted flytrap shares a cause, and it is not a diagnostic key for pests, infection or nutrient problems.
‘Spotty’ is a comparison name here; its own history and original diagnosis need separate treatment. Resemblance or contrast in one publication does not replace that source work.
What a colour photograph can and cannot establish
A useful series includes the whole plant, a newly opened leaf and an older leaf, with both trap surfaces shown. Keep the lighting and camera processing comparable. A dramatic exposure adjustment can make green tissue appear pale or exaggerate the difference between red and purple. The accompanying label should identify the accession and the date, not merely the colour that happened to be visible.
The descriptions above establish horticultural reference characters. They do not demonstrate a shared mutation, identical pigment chemistry or a common cultivation optimum. In particular, seasonal whitening and a consistently pale sport are different observations. Neither should be casually renamed albino without evidence of what pigments are actually absent.
For care decisions, use the species’ cultivation framework alongside observations of the individual plant. A cultivar epithet is not a water-quality measurement or a test of root health. Where an account reports slow growth, retain the attribution and observe establishment rather than assuming that greater fertilisation will correct it.
The linked original publications provide reference images and the precise limits of their claims. Their photographs have not been reproduced in this draft. No statement here implies that Nano Nursery currently stocks these selections or has independently tested the original growers’ observations.
Sources
- Guillaume Bily (2012), Blanche Hermine, CPN 41:116
- Guillaume Bily (2014), Phoolan Devi, CPN 43:25–26
- Christophe Boiteux (2014), Sirius, CPN 43:135
- Lucien Blacher (2012), Scarlatine, CPN 41:27
- Tobias Sicking (2015), Spotted Hyena, CPN 44:93–94
Sources checked 2 October 2026.
