Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 08:14:12 From: SCHLAUER@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg4131$foo@default> Subject: Re: NEPENTHES are dangerous to endemic flora + fauna
Dear Manfred,
> I wasn't talking specifically about the Dominican Republic.
But you should have done so. Hermann wanted some tips for his
specific situation. And we are elaborating on exactly this, not
general problems of introduction.
> You suggested that male plants were to be the best choice and that they
> are completely safe to introduce. But you still didn't explain why they
> are to be preferred over female plants.
Female plants could have feritlized fruits on them. So they might be
a possible source of unwanted dissemination (shortly after
introduction). Male plants (apparently) never produce female
inflorescences, so they do not bear this danger.
> But back to the original question about the Dominican Republic: Your
> clueless question indicates there are obviously no known Nepenthes.
Correct!
> Now how sure is it that there really don't grow any Nepenthes in any
> hidden place?
More than 99.99%.
> What about as yet unknown Nepenthes species?
Good joke, indeed. Have you ever studied the global range of
_Nepenthes_? Yes, there are amphi-pacific disjunctions, but most of
them affect E Asia and Pacific S America. The most unusual disjunction
is the pair _D. burmannii_/_D. sessilifolia_, but both species are
fairly widespread and among the first species known from the
respective regions at all. Taking all this into cosideration, there
remains a chance (less than 0.01% probability) that just
the Dominican Republic should happen to be inhabited by the only
(yet unknown) _Nepenthes_ species in the New World. It is in any
event several orders of magnitude more likely that all official
import authorities will be wiped out by "unintentional" nuclear war.
> To prevent further misunderstandings: No, I don't suppose that Nepenthes
> could be any real danger for the wildlife in the Dominican Republic.
That's the point!
> But you never know what weird objections the authorities might have and
> sometimes it's good to be prepared to refute them in advance.
But you should be aware that weird speculations on the internet may be
the very beginning of weird ideas leading to weird objections.
> So just another weird thought comes to mind: Can we be sure that there
> exists no other species that is capable to interbreed with Nepenthes
> and produce fertile descendants?
No. How should we be sure about this? There is only no contrary
evidence so far. But this does not make me feel uncomfortable at all.
> Does this question make any botanical sense at all?
All questions make sense. It is the answers that could be nonsense.
> Probably any such species would qualify per definitionem as actually
> being Nepenthes, wouldn't it?
Show me one, and I will tell you.
Kind regards
Jan
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