Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 15:21:08 -0400 (EDT) From: PTemple001@aol.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2369$foo@default> Subject: CUBA !!! (Cuba occidental).
Never one to miss an opportunity to state the obvious - I'm back. I'm back
from a holiday in Cuba for those whose attention to my earlier mails is poor.
As usual, I'll attempt a report. However, this may be slightly shorter than
usual (do I hear sighs of relief?) as I'm going to try and submit an article
to the ICPS journal.
So, here goes it ...
CUBA - June 1997.
Introduction
My plans to visit Cuba began immediately after my previous and first visit
there in February 1995, The country is rich in CP's and has many endemic
CP's (endemic's are plants which grow only in a specific country or region
and nowhere else). The presence of endemic CP's is not a surprise as over
50% of Cuba's total plant life grows only in Cuba. But my plans were changed
slightly by a chance meeting with Hans Luhrs (a CP'er from Holland). Hans
liked the idea of a visit to Cuba (he specialises in Pinguicula of Mexico so
a trip to Cuba would make a pleasant change) so I extended him an invitation
to join me on the trip. The first time I've been on an expedition with anyone
from Europe. This second trip took 2 years to organize, especially as it
involved the full co-operation and assistance of the National Botanic Garden
of Cuba, where I have friends. An additional need for planning and time
arose as, since my first visit, major areas of Cuba had been listed as
protected and permits were now required to visit these areas. Still, despite
various delays and worries (such as my not receiving a visa to enter Cuba
until the day before my flight!) all the plans came to a successful
conclusion and Hans and I left from our respective countries, meeting in
Madrid and flying on to Havana together.
On arrival, I immediately changed the plans! The Bot. garden and I agreed
that we could add in an otherwise unplanned visit to West Cuba, the State of
Pinar del Rio. I'd seen it before but failed to find Pinguicula albida.
(Hans had seen nothing before as this was his first time in Cuba). So,
having been in Cuba only a few hours (Friday afternoon), we agreed to leave
for Pinar on Sunday. Hans spent Saturday studying Herbarium material (I'd
seen it all before) while I renewed friendships. The night was spent in a
cuban house with friends - where I wanted to listen to Cuban Salsa music but
they insited (to Hans' delight) on playing The Beatles!!! Yeuch!!!!!!!
Cuba occidental (West Cuba)
It took 3 hours to travel to Pinal del Rio state, the capital city being
called, rather unsurprisingly, Pinar del Rio. We went straight to Las Ovas,
an area (containg many hundreds of round lakes) that will be familiar to
anyone researcing CP's of west Cuba as this is where the reports say they
grow. This day we looked for and found a site for P. filifolia. Different
from the site I'd visited 2 years before, this one had plants with flowers
either blue or white and a few of intermediate colours. The plants grow in
full glaring sun in tempertures up to 39C. Drosera (I think D. capillaris)
grew there too. This visit was unusual. Herbarium records show that all
previous documented visits to the West had been at other times of the year.
By visiting in June we could now fill in a gap in the data of observed
facts. We can now confirm that P. filifolia flowers in every month of the
year, there is no actual flowering season.
Day 2 in Pinar allowed us the morning to visit another slightly more distant
site, one I'd visited before. On my first visit I'd found Drosera and
Utricularia in a site that resembled Dionaea habitat. The plants grow in an
area of damp sandy soil with a mixture of grasses and small shrubs and
including large numbers of Palm trees. Dionaea areas differ mainly in that
they have Fir trees instead of Palms. Looking around, I could fing no Utrics
at all even though the sandy soil was wetter than on my first visit. But,
hidden in the good shade under the younger Palm trees or similarly shaded by
twiggy shrubs, we found wonderful colonies of Pinguicula albida. This
charming plant measured only about 2 cm in diameter and was in flower.
Despite torrential tropical rain the flowers survived and bagan to open as
they dried out. The leaves were incredibly thin, reminding me of the
structure of Filmy Ferns. You can actually see through the thin P. albida
leaves and detect water droplets hanging on the underside of the leaves!
This is clearly an annual, which explains why I couldn't find it on the same
sight two years earlier, in the dry season. seeds must be able to survive
for at lesat a year and wait dormat until the rains trigger germination.
I grow bored easily, so while Hans took time off for a beer (this became a
popular passtime for Hans, I visited a nearby lake where i located at lesat
three species of Utricularia. One was U. juncea, stunning, showing large
yellow flowers on relatively tall flower stalks. I've yet to detemine how
many other species were there or what they are. Having reached a point of
no return, the rain came and I got drenched. But I didn't care. It took 30
minutes to walk back to the car in the pouring tropical rain, and all of me
was wet including my cameras.
The first two expeditions had been a wonderful success and I'd found
everything that had been hoped for in my plans. Hans was thrilled too,
though entirely by the Pinguicula (and maybe the beer - although Hans also
discovered and loved the "Malta" drink, my favourite). Lets hope that our
photos prove useful.
Next, we returned to Havana to plan for more westerly parts of Cuba and
perhaps signs of P lignicola, P, benedicta or P. jackii. Did we find them?
Were they in flower? What else did we find? Tune in to the next exciting
(?) adventure, "Cuba orient", appearing in another listserver offering soon
(my thanks to Fernando for drawing my attention to the style of teasing!!!).
Now I'm off to get some sleep. Meanwhile, a special hello to all my regular
and occassional email contacts.
Regards
Paul
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