Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 15:37:12 EDT From: CALIFCARN@aol.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2782$foo@default> Subject: Re: White trumpets and the harvest moon
Howdydoo, Peter here at California Carnivores. The chit chat about what S.
leucophylla eats brought up memories of a long time grower in the southeast
who I had an interesting conversation with at the ICPS world meeting in
Atlanta in 1997. I would give his name but three names come to mind and I'm
not sure who told me this but it was one of them, so I'll avoid names for now
and hope he is on the list server (one definately is). This fellow said he
was going to write a paper on how, according to his observation, white
trumpets caught an enormous amount of male moths endemic to the southeast
during the harvest moon cycle in September. Ironically today is the day of
the harvest moon in the northern hemisphere. He said on clear nights of the
moon, the white trumpets light up like lanterns and attracted and caught
countless thousands of a particular species of moth, and examining them they
were identified to be males. He thinks it's possible the plant also produced
something akin to chemicals or aroma similar to the female moths, that
further lured these insects to the glow of white trumpets. He was
investigating this and hoped to write a paper on the subject, but if he did,
I haven't run across it.
We're having humid warm Florida-like weather in northern California, or
Nepenthes weather, as I call it. Unfortunately, some also call it earthquake
weather! See ya.
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