Re: New CP???????

Adrian Arnold (arnold@bigb.win-uk.net)
Tue, 09 Jan 1996 22:52:05

When I saw this posting I thought this was probably what I once
grew under the common name of 'Cruel plant' but that turns out to
be Araujia sericofera and unfortunately none of my reference books
list the Aristilochia deblis. However, I would assume it is
similar in which case the flower 'catches' the insect for
pollenation. The 'cruel plant' has rather sticky pollen which is
supposed to be particularly tacky at night and therefore catches
moths by their proboscis until the temperature rises and the
pollen thins somewhat, thereby releasing the moth - hence the
name:-) It is NOT carnivorous however.

Regards, Adrian Arnold.

>------------------------------
>
>Topic No. 12
>
>Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 10:24:02 -0500
>From: L235@aol.com
>To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
>Subject: Re: New CP???????????
>Message-ID: <960109102400_36209461@mail06.mail.aol.com>
>
>A webcrawler search on "carnivorous plants" turned up Sally & Co. Seeds page,
>an online catalog which lists a "Chinese Fly-Catching Vine" Aristilochia
>deblis, the description of which states (and I paraphrase): "A carnivorous
>plant with long, peculiar, insectivorous flowers." I'm just a novice in this
>hobby, but in all of my reading, I've NEVER come across this cp, and I've
>seen stated repeatedly that pollination and fertilization are evolutionary
>separate functions in cps, i.e. you'd be more likely to find a 30' man-eating
>Drosera than you would an insect-eating flower. Can somebody set me straight
>on this?
>