Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 14:12:46 +0900 From: ss66428 <ss66428@hongo.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3158$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: Brazilian Expedition part 15
Jan,
>> The only other option I could fathom was D.communis. Unfortunately I
>> am not too familiar with D.roraimae and could not remember what
>> characteristics place it apart from D.communis other than seed shape. And
>> the size of the plants was just too incredible to be D.communis! The leaves
>> in D.communis vary between 4-15mm in length, but these specimens had leaves
>> 18-33mm in length!!
> Why did you exclude _D. capillaris_? Just because this was not
> at the coast? Seeds would be of very much help in this case. Any
> chance to obtain some sometime?
I have to admit that the fact that I've only seen D.capillaris on the
coast of Brazil and that these plants are a very small form did cause a certain
bias against them. Althought I have never seen D.capillaris as big as these
mysterious Drosera from Goias, I have no doubt that they do reach this size.
In fact I have even seen a picture of D.capillaris in the Roraima region which
looked a lot like the giant plants from Goias (the picture was in the book
recently released by the Insectivorous Plant Society of Japan). They even had
semi-erect leaves.
BUT......... The few young scapes present on the plants seemed too
fragile to belong to D.capillaris and most of all, by what I know D.capillaris
have erect scapes. Or are there D.capillaris in N.America with ascending
scapes? I couldn't remember if D.roraimae had ascending scapes, but believe
they don't. Unfortunately the scapes did not make it back to Sao Paulo intact
and I haven't heard any news of them having flowered since.
>> D.sessilifolia is the only truly annual species I know in Brazil and
>> unfortunately it was still too early in the season to see it in flower. In
>> fact I have only seen its pink-lilac flowers once, when I first saw this
>> species in the wild back in 92 at the Pantanal flood plain in W Brazil.
>> Although widespread (probably the most widespread species in S.America,
>> rivalled only by D.communis),
> Both _D. capillaris_ and _D. brevifolia_ and especially _D.
> intermedia_ are more widely spread than these species (they extend
> beyond S America) but they are of course less frequent in S Am (or
> less frequently identified correctly?).
Read again carefully. I said "the most widespread *IN S.AMERICA*".
D.brevifolia, D.intermedia, and D.capillaris are all more widespread if you
consider their whole ranges, but IN S.AMERICA D.communis and D.sessilifolia are
the champions. D.brevifolia is only present in the 3 S-most states of Brazil
as well as Uruguay, Paraguay, and N Argentina. D capillaris is present in N
S.America as well as coastal Uruguay and S.Brazil. D.intermedia also occurs
in N S.America and on the coast of Brazil (from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro).
If you make one of those distribution maps for each species, coloring
in the areas where each can be found in S.America, the ones that cover the
largest area are D.sessilifolia and D.communis. Considering that D.communis is
easier to find, you could probably consider it the most abundant Drosera in
S.America as well.
All the Best,
Fernando Rivadavia
Tokyo, Japan
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