I took my B. gigantea out of the greenhouse today to tuning-fork
pollinate it, and had it in the sun for only about 5 minutes and it
started to wilt! I frantically stowed it back in the G-house. I have
to go back and make sure it's OK :(
>>Does anyone know of a source of (natural) CP bogs of North America?
>Doug, the book "Carnivorous Plants of the US and Canada" by Don Schnell
>has good general maps for each species. It doesn't pinpoint the bogs
>and wetlands
Bog-finding just isn't easy, unfortunately. If I were planning a US
trip to go CPing, I think I'd either head to the South Carolina area, or
to the Mobile Bay area. First thing I'd do is call Bruce Bednar or O.
Clyde Bramblett and ask the m what they think. They do a lot of bogging
down there. Best thing is to get some local expertise. I've
discovered, from my own goofing around, that you can get to just a few
hundred feet of prime CP territory and not know it. Another route is to
plop down in prime CP territory (like South Carolina) and blow a day in
the herbarium researching recent collections. That's what I've done and
it work s pretty well.
I got some seeds of those Nepenthes you mentioned from the seed bank, and
am trying to get them going. I tried Mike's method of putting them in a
pot of soil in a baggie that was microwaved (introducing seeds AFTER the
microwaves) but I think that the seeds are getting killed by fungus. Last time
I listen to Mike! :)
Well, I finally got to look through this Peter Taylor double issue of CPN. I
have a couple of comments, since I seem to have been given the title of
Utricularia fiend...
I think that the treatment of the N. American Utrics is great, with two
keys to ID your plants. Also the notes on each species are great, with
ranges for the plants (which makes up for the lack of range maps). It's
also very nice for the CP-horticulturist that he includes information
which is the closest he ever gets to growing instructions, like
``....habitat is wet sand or peat or in shallow water....'' That he
included this info, which is very sparse in his monograph, is probably
because of prodding from Don Schnell who always suggests I include this
kind of information in the stuff I've written for the mag. Usually a
clear writer, Taylor makes a goof on his description of U. juncea
(p17-18) when it sounds like he's saying a cleistogamous form of U.
juncea is validly called U. virgatula.
The rest of the Utricularia stuff is just derivative of his monograph.
So, it's mighty useful if you don't have the 40 pounds to shell out for
the book, but since I've got it most of the CPN issue is just redundant.
I'm particularly happy that they've printed the list of invalid names,
so people can correct their tags of U. racemosa, capensis, etc etc.
The photos of interesting species, especially the ones with antennae-bearing
flowers (which are thought to be pollinated by flies), I found very welcome.
BUT THE BIGGEST AND BEST THING ABOUT THIS ISSUE WITHOUT A DOUBT IN MY
MIND is the treatment of Genlisea. Here we have a first, complete key
to the genus. Hurrah! A very short description of each species, and a
bibliography! What a great thing to have. I'd eagerly buy those pages
alone for more than I'd like to admit! I am psyched!
Anyone going to send off for the 1991 World CP list? I think I might...
especially since this Jan Schlauer claims there are references for each
plant. This is a way to finally get some data on the ancient D. communis/
burkeana/spathulata/capillaris problem and so on.
OK, this is great.... The other day I was getting entirely fed up with
the mats of algae that I get floating in my trough of U. resupinata.
Utricularia resupinata is a species that grows in peat/sand about an
inch or so submerged by water---it looks like grassy blades growing out
of the substrate, waving in the water. So anyway, I was looking at my
grassy blades getting choked by a thick mat of green algae, when I had
an idea. I got a sturdy metal comb I use for brushing out the coat of
my golden retriever/lab mix, and ``combed'' the plants. The result?
All the algae got strained out and the Utrics stayed behind unaffected
(except for a quite dashing, well coiffed look). I think any coarse
comb would work great for this. I wouldn't suggest it for most free
floating aquatics, though.
Not high tech, not low tech, but just the right tech.