Name-P/U-VFT-Thanx
Ben Levin (benjinsl@astro.ocis.temple.edu)
Mon, 13 Mar 1995 18:08:08 -0500 (EST)
"To make a long story less boring"
1. Terry: My name is Ben. I'm actually interested in desert
reclamation and, by either genetic engineering or hybridization,
producing more water/resource efficient crop plants. Presently, I'm
doing some work on the effects of various phytohormones on photosynthesis
under one of the professors here. If you, or anyone else fro that
matter, are intersted in corresponding on this topic, I'd rather we do
it on our personal accounts.
2. Paige & family: You're probably right about the light, the
plants were only getting indirect sunlight. Related to that:
3. Bruce: No, the other thing I mentioned I wanted to talk
about concerning the VFT wasn't the flower stalk growths, but you were
close. The _leaves_ were bizarre. I've never seen such mutated growth
before. The first real winter leaves this winter were
normal, but as winter progressed the petioles became much wider and
leaf-like. At first they were heart-shaped, the next leaves were
longer and the leaf-like part of the petiole was rounder, somewhat
oval. In addition, there are (yes, I'm changing tense) strange
outgrowths on the petiole nearest the trap, which hasn't opened. Now the
leaves are at least as long as, if not longer than, the summer leaves,
while the petiole is thinner than the previous leaves and looks as if
it's been cut. Regarding the strange outgrowths, I read in a past issue
of CPN ('88) concerning the evolution of Aldrovanda & VFT that in non
optimal (?) growing conditions these outgrowths are common. So it could
have been a result of low light levels (L3) or, as you theorized, the
temperature, or, more likely, a mixture of the two.
4. Bruce: Being that the Sarracenia incident took place several
years ago, I do believe it's dead (I think it fertilized our eggplants
eventually).
5. Loyd & Clark: Thanx for the input/info.