Re: stuff XXXVIXXX

Barry Meyers-Rice (dunwich%SOLPL@as.arizona.edu)
Mon, 17 Dec 90 14:44:12 mst

>I forgot, just what did (was it Rob) say about those (which?) counterfeet
>African seed? Is coccicaulis suspect too? I bet it is, since I could
>find no legit reference to its name. (I think you said you saw D.
>admirabilis in some Kraut journal?)

I asked Allen about these things, and he said that they were south
africans, but not much else. I saw a note in a recent CPN (in the
literature review section) mentioning the discovery of admirabilis.
I looked in my Archived-Rob-Letters, and found this bit which I think
is what you were looking for. In it, Rob mentioned a response that he
got from Allen. Since Rob is probably overwhelmed with old mail at this
point, I'll take the liberty to speak for him!

>I asked him to elaborate on D. sp. '8' Borneo, to which he replied:
> "Mine are ever so small so I can't report much to you...I'm always a
>bit dubious about species A species 2 (B?) etc. There was a prick
>(underlined, presumably for emphasis!) in Germany Harold Weiner who
>used this scam to increase his CP list that he had for sale. The
>printers were tricked of course. Most of the species were something
>else - generally something common. The asshole who now lives in Kenya
>did a lot of damage to honesty in our C.P. world."
> Does he sound peed to Andromeda??! Also mentioned that D. admirabilis
>and venusta were named by a guy from Germany, Paul Debbert.

>I see you still have D. falconerii and petiolaris kunnuuurraa on your list?

The petiolaris is doing great, but is sinking into dormancy (hence the
fuel for all of my hot/cold dormancy questions). I'd be fooling myself
if I thought that the falconeri had much of a chance at this point, but
it is still kicking a bit.
Neat on the Darlingtonia. My D. collinsae has flowered for me
(medium-small pink flowers on a pubescent scape, like a small version
of capensis). I have gotten seed which has germinated.

I'm glad to say that the temporary greenhouse electrical failure
over the weekend (due to a blown fuse) produced no tremendous traumas,
although it did produce several irritating things. A few shrivelled
flowers on P. ionantha, and also a fried U. juncea scape (very
annoying). Fortunately, my prized D. regia and B. gigantea seedlings
seemed unaffected.

My D. binata multifida (extrema?) from Rob has started to regularly
produce 4 branched leaves (i.e. dichotoma), and only after a year +
of cultivation! (sheesh!)

OK, Paul McMillan has started me on another (wild goose?) chase for
a truly fine Drosophyllum soil medium. He suggests putting a bunch of
big (i.e. golf ball---baseball sized) rocks in the medium, really
piling them in the bottom 30cm of the pot. So, I picked up a bunch
of volcanic rocks near a Utricularia site in Northern AZ this weekend.
I wonder what will come of this idea?

| |
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| * * * |
| ** * * *| "*" = rock
|* * * * | " " = peat
| * * * * *|
|* * * ** * *|
| * **** * ** |.......a 5g (20liter) pot
|*** ****** **|
|*************|
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