Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 08:56:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Barry Meyers-Rice <bamrice@ucdavis.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1059$foo@default> Subject: CP as Roadside wildflowers
Hi Steven,
You raise some interesting questions. Unfortunately, I can't answer them
all in sufficient detail. Are you going to be at the ICPS conference? It
would be interesting to talk about...
For the most part, North American CP (except Utricularia!) don't seem to
be invasive, so they seem safe. I'd be all for roadside plantings of CP,
if it could be done, and if you were planting species into their native
ranges. In fact, the roadside mowing that is done is a pretty good mimic
of burning for many habitats, so roadsides (or rights-of-way) are often
good CP habitats.
Here are a few things to think about regarding this...
--How local is "local". By planting S. flava from Florida into North
Carolina, are you screwing around with genetics of "local" populations?
Should you just stick to plants within one watershed? A typical
bee-flight?
--Seed purity---gotta make sure no Miscanthus seeds (an invasive grass)
gets in your Sarracenia seed packets. I just heard the the National
Wildlife Foundation was found distributing seed packets that included
invasive species in the mix---as part of the known ingredients! I haven't
verified this, nor do I know the species included. Alas.
Wouldn't it be nice to drive along and see fields of D. filiformis var.
tracyi along the roads? It might make changing a flat tire a gooey
business, but it sure would be neat!
Later
Barry
------------------------
Dr. Barry A. Meyers-Rice
Carnivorous Plant Newsletter
Conservation Coeditor
barry@carnivorousplants.org
http://www.carnivorousplants.org
> list. In many of the states of the US there is an active effort to introduce
> native "wildflowers" to the Highway ditches and shoulders. Texas is one of
> the strongest examples, because of "Ladybird" Johnson's efforts. National
> Geographic did a special on this subject a few years back. Would adding CP
> to this effort be environmental havoc, or beneficial to the biological
> diversity of the disturbed roadside environment. I do not mean introducing
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