Question

Mutation?   I'm growing what I believe is Drosera capillaris on a windowsill in my dorm room at Auburn University. I have two plants growing basically right on top of each other, and they are about to bloom. I just noticed that a branch on my smaller plant seems to be mutating. Instead of forming one round, dew-covered pad at the end of the petiole, it seems to be forming two pads. I was just wondering if you knew anything about it. Is it common for this to happen? Does it have anything to do with flowering?

The part that I'm wondering about is in the upper left quadrant of the image.

Sorry about the poor image quality. I didn't have much to work with.

Answer
Double leaves are not very unusual.  We occasionally see it occur on a variety sundews.  Drosera capensis seems to do it the most, but it's relatively infrequent.  There are a couple reasons why a plant will do this.  The most common cause is a benign virus.  It doesn't harm the plant per se.  Sometimes the mutation occurs if there is a disruption in early stages of cell division, such as from a microscopic cell damage.  Other times it's a faulty signal with hormones.  Regardless of the cause, the mutation seems to be very localized to a single leaf.  Flowers have no effect on whether a plant does this or not.  

Good growing!
Jacob Farin