>Hi! My name is John Welsh. I am an Australian citizen living and working
>in Brazil. I've been here 4 years now and am currently employed by a local
>zinc smelter as a technical consultant (I have a science - chemistry -
>background). Appalled at the lack of variety of plants available in local
>nurseries, and in particular CP's (I couldn't find any at the time I
>bought my house here in Juiz de Fora), I have made the decision to
>produce my own. During my last visit to Australia I brought back with me
>a number of flasks of different species (VFT's, sarracenia's and
>nepenthes') produced by micropropagation. These plants are now living
>happily in my recently constructed hothouse awaiting the completion of
>my laboratory in order to be further multiplied. As a newcomer to the
>field of micropropagation (my speciality is chemistry - not -
>biochemistry or microbiology) I would be very grateful for any advice
>that anyone may care to offer.
G'day mate! Glad to have another aussie in the group! I'm,
Brazilian, but have been living in Tokyo since April. Unfortunately, as
you've noticed, the local market in Brazil is terrible for CPs. It's
funny (sad?) how Latin countries don't seem to be as much into botany and
nature in general as anglo-saxon countries. It's hard to believe that in
Brazil, a country with 160 million people, I was never able to get enough
CPers together to form even a small CP society! It was only me and a
handful of others. Not even in my hometown of Sao Paulo (with 16 million
inhabitants!!) were there ever more than 5 CPers that I knew of!
But if you want CP variety, the place to go is Sao Paulo. There
you should contact my good friend Fabio, a local CPer (tel: (011)
9105256). He speaks some English, in case you need it, and has a very
beautiful CP collection with lots of native Brazilian species. You should
also try and contact Alice or Marcos Ono, who are CP growers and have a
wide variety of plants as well as a nursery on the outskirts of the city
which is really worth a visit, especially in spring when all the
Sarracenia look fantastic (they have an immense variety of wonderfully
colored hybrids!). They sell their CPs at the CEASA (plant market) on
Tuesdays and Fridays in the morning. Their phone number is (011) 7210998
(but it might have changed, so check with Fabio). Anyways, Fabio can help
you get in touch with other CPers and even take you to some natural sites
around the Sao Paulo area.
AH! I almost forgot, there's another CPer in Sao Paulo called
Linilson Padovese who can help you and he has e-mail. His address is:
"lrpadove@usp.br" or maybe it's "lrpadov@usp.br". I think it's the first,
but just in case.... Anyways, you can contact him for more info too.
I don't know if you've searched for CPs in the wild yet, but the
state you live in (Minas Gerais) is the best there is in Brazil when it
comes to CPs!! There are many cool places only a few hours away from Juiz
de Fora. You can get the tips with Fabio and maybe even organize to go on
some trips together. Good luck!!
Best Wishes,
Fernando Rivadavia
Tokyo, Japan