Date: Tue, 12 Aug 97 18:32 EDT From: dave evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3080$foo@default> Subject: Re: NJ Bogs, part IV
> According to "Carnivorous Plants of the World" (Pietropaolo),
> "Leaves usually form a rosette, but when the environment is extremely
> wet, the leaves develop on an elongated stem." What you are seeing is
> d. intermedia's evolved solution to a rather sticky (no pun intended)
> situation. It probably explains the abundance of intermedia, one of the
> weediest CP I've seen yet. Apparently any individual intermedia can be
> forced back and forth from one growing method to the other simply by
> adding or decreasing the amount of water involved. Cool huh?
Hi Paul,
Actually, that is not what I've seen. Every single D.intermedia
I have is growing on a stem and I have dozens of plants (this year
most are getting baseball-sized!). However I've been selecting for
the largest plants over the last four or five years. That might
explain why my plants all have stems as I may have, inavertently,
also selected for plants forming stems. But, in nature all the large
plants have stems whether or not they are in water or not - I'm asking
if anyone has actually put this to the test besides me; and checked
to see if the these full sized plants really don't have stems or were
just knocked over. Yes, the stems of the wetter plants can be longer,
but D.intermedia likes it wet and well I think the drier growing
plants might be getting stunted some (though I still see stems on them).
When they do fall over, they form aventagious roots off the stem, but
they aren't as quick to as other stem-forming (what's that Bot. word?)
Drosera like D.capensis.
Shoot, even the hybrid between D.intermedia and D.rotundifolia has
a bit of a stem, not much, but it raises itself a bit higher than D.*
hybrida, which forms a bud that sits right on the soil, and the stem
isn't coming from the D.rotundifolia. I haven't seen (or noticed
anyway) either hybrid outside of cultivation so selective pressure (a
preference for D.intermedia with nice long stems) from growers might
have something to do with it...
Dave Evans
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