Re: Carnivorous? Bromeliad again.

Klaus Neuhaus (neuhaus@stud.uni-frankfurt.de)
Fri, 01 Mar 1996 09:03:28 +0100

At 12:09 29.02.1996 -0800, cp@opus.hpl.hp.com wrote:

>
>
>Hi Folks,
>
>The kind people from the bromeliad list gave me the following reference on
>_Puya_.
>
>Rees WE & Roe NA (1980): Puya raimondii (Pitcairnioideae, Bromeliaceae) and
>birds: a hypothesis on nutrient relationships. Can. J. Bot. 58:1262-1268.
>
>Please note the "H" word!!!
>
>It was also mentioned that _P. mirabilis_ was fairly adept at catching
>intrusive fingers.
>
>Take care!
>
>Jeff
>

Hi,=20
I was the kind people. Hope I don7t have written something misunderstanding.
Well, the idea from Rees & Roe is very nice, but, as I think, wrong. The
spines of the Puya-raimondii are, as I know, against bears. It7s not for
catching birds and use them as a nutrient. The birds built there nests in
the Puyas and sometimes they get into the spines by an accident. But Bears
like to eat the flowers. And this plant is blooming only one time, then
dying. (But at this time it7s grow to a height of 4 to 6m! It=B4s the=
biggest
Bromeliad.)=20

I7ve also written, that Puya mirabilis is catching fingers. Well, if I had
knowed that Jeff is CP-grower I wouldn7t say it in this way. The plant
doesn=B4t catch like a VFT. It has "only" hundreds of little revurved very
sharp spines and they just hold your fingers.=20

Well, the only Bromeliad which is, maybe, carnivorous is Brocchinia reducta.
The Bromeliad-specialists are not sure that Brocchinia is a CP.=20
There are also other Bromeliads which can catch insekts like Brocchinia, but
it=B4s only or maybe chance! They called precarnivorous. It=B4s for example
Catopsis berteromiana.=20
I7ve written a little article about that. Maybe I translate it from german
into english and publish it anywhere? (I don7t know where.)

I would say "Take care"! too.

Klaus