Re: Nepenthes hybrids

Barry Meyers-Rice (barry@as.arizona.edu)
Fri, 26 Mar 93 16:54:58 MST

>The weather outside has finally gotten springlike. This weekend, I am
>planning to dig up all my north american species that have spent the
>winter outside under a layer of sphagnum moss and leaves. It's a dirty
>job, but I'm looking forward to seeing my Sarr's come back to life.
>

Ha! My Arizona plants are already producing pollen! I guess I'm a month or
so ahead of you (but 5 or 6 behind Messrs Taylor sitting on the Earth's
bum). :)

>I never realized what a "weed" Drosera Adelae is...I had one plant
>growing in

>cutting" is responsible for this. What's the technical term for these
>phenomena??

There are several, but a good catch-all phrase is vegetative multiplication.
Suppose the stems holding together a big clumpy plant die, and the now
separate portions reroot---this is called senescence. Or adventitious
plantlets can form on the flowering stalks---this is false vivipary.
There are many other terms depending on the details.

Rah! My _U.inflata_ has successfully flowered and produced healthy normal
flowers. Very nice. I am going to photograph it then look for the active
stigmatic surfaces Jan said may be present.

Last summer I was visiting Gordon Snelling of California when I noticed a
most interesting weed growing in one of his pots---a clone of
_U.bisquamata_ (known to the unwashed as ``U.capensis'' :}) with very
large flowers. Gordon happily gave me a clump, muttering something
derogatory about the genus. It is flowering now for me, right next
to my other clone of _U.bisquamata_. This is a superior plant---while
my original clone (and ones received from other growers) has small
flowers only about 2 mm long, the one from Gordon has large expanded
colourful corollae several mm long, with big inflated palate bulges.
Very nice. I'll see if it produces seed.

B