John, _U.longifolia_ is very forgiving, and can grow as a terrestrial,
wet epiphyte, or aquatic (as long as some leaves are in air). Sounds
like you have been growing it very wet, and in your conditions the plant
has been sending stolons and rhizoids (the rootlike, and hairlike portions)
into the moist air. I wouldn't be stunned if you told me you were getting
bladders produced in the air as well. Stolons, rhizoids, and bladders are
normally produced underground or in water. When you started to harden the
plant, I would guess these organs were dying. Soon the plant will adjust
to a more normal growing situation, with the only above-ground organs being
the leaves.
Disclaimer: If you grow Utrics in very wet or humid conditions, especially
if too hot, then the plant will produce a variety of teratological organs
that can't really be classified as rhizoids, stolons, or leaves. Utrics do
weird things in weird conditions.
>Having focussed on _Drosera_, I have completely overlooked/forgotten some
>really interesting fossils of (NB: the *very* delicate) _Aldrovanda_ from
>Europe and boreal Asia from as early strata as the Eocene and Oligocene
Jan, I am most interested. I thought the only CP fossils known were of
pollen or something like that. Do go on!
This weekend, while surfing the documentaries on cable tv, the missus and
I got sucked into a program about hyaenas (sp?), wild dogs, and lions in
Africa. Turned out these packs and prides were preying on zebras and
gazelles on the delta of the Okavanga river. I mention this because I know
there are lots of people out there growing a _Drosera_ labelled
_D._ sp. `Okavanga Delta', a plant that looks a lot like _D.glabripes_.
I just think it's nifty to be growing a plant from hyaena, zebra, and
wild dog territory!
Barry