Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 11:47:34 +1000 From: "Mark T. Bachelor" <bachelor@gateway.mggs.vic.edu.au> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg4623$foo@default> Subject: Ceph regen & CP nutrition
>In my experience ("a dormant Cephalotus"), it looks like crap. Dead and
>dessicated leaves and traps waiting for the bin.
>
>If you look under the surface of the medium, you may quite often find a
>plump, sometimes rooted, rhizome. If it is _brittle_, it is probably dead.
>
>If not: Clean it off, removing all dead material and put it in a sterile
>prop box (I just bury mine in an enclosed pot of whatever CP is handy until
>they start up a leaf) and, with moderate humidity, you should get at least
>another plant in a month or two. Don't try to force it. Don't expose it to
>heat.
>
>Kind Regards,
>
>Rand
This has also been my experience with dried out Ceph. If left in a cool
damp place, but not wet, they normally recover if the rhizome is still alive.
CP nutrients - this is the article that I promised to post some time back.
The following is the main body of an article by Harvey Black which includes
a certain amount of biochemical information provided by Joseph Mazrimas (ICPS).
"After the insect is captured. "The plants must break down the components
of their prey to simple forms and make them over into ones they can use,"
said Mazrimas. This is what our bodies do with the food we eat.
To digest their prey, many of these plants secrete enzymes- proteins that
can accelerate specific chemical reactions- to break down the proteins that
compose the animals and turn them into ones the plants can use to grow and
flourish. The enzymes are stored in parts of plant cells called lysosomes
and are secreted when digestion is needed. But some plants, like the
pitcher plant, have no digestive enzymes whatsoever, according to Professor
Thomas Givnish of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Instead, the pitcher
plant relies on bacteria and fly larvae in the insect traps to digest the
prey. These organisms take some of the nutrition for themselves and leave
the leftovers for the plant.
The digestive enzymes are similar to the enzymes that animals use to digest
the proteins they eat. For instance, in a carnivorous plant you're likely
to find enzymes called proteases and peptidases. They break down proteins
into amino acids that the plant can assemble into the proteins it needs to
grow. There are also phosphotases to break down the phosphorus-containing
compounds in animal bodies. Plants need phosphorus to make DNA. Some
plants also have an enzyme called chitenase to break down the substance
called chitin that makes up the hard shell or exoskeleton of insects. Once
broken down, the chitin is a rich supply of sugars.
Just how did all this come about? To answer that question it's necessary to
understand something about the environment in which these plants evolved.
Carnivorous plants grow in soils in which the nutrients required for plant
growth are sparse. Many of these soils are sandy or gravelly and have
little nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and other essential nutrients. In
other cases the soils are composed of peat which is made up of decayed
plants. While peat can be rich in nutrients, they are so tightly tied or
bound to the soil that they might as well not be there, as far as
carnivorous plants are concerned.
Carnivorous plants also grow in soils that are acidic, with pH as low as 3.5
to 4.5. In such soils the acid leaches away the nutrients the plants need.
Soils may also contain compounds based on metals, such as aluminium, that
are toxic to plants. High levels of acid can make these compounds soluble,
and they can then be taken up by the roots.
So now are carnivorous plants able to thrive and exploit a niche that is
inhospitable to most other plants? To make up for the dearth of nutrients
in the soil, they get what is needed for growth from animals. They have
adapted and developed the ability to capture and digest prey.
The way the plants actually developed the equipment to snare and digest
their prey isn't completely understood. In some cases the traps and
digestive system might have evolved from defensive measures to keep
caterpillars and other plant eaters at bay. In other cases this apparatus
may have arisen from the cup-shaped or pellate leaves of plants like the
pitcher plant, which grow in humid areas. Holding water, such leaves create
pitfalls for insects.
In any case, among the areas today in which carnivorous plants can be found
are regions where fire has taken its toll. Carnivorous plants are able to
move into the initially nutrient-poor soil. If other conditions are right-
such as little shade- they can flourish. But only for awhile. Eventually
grasses and shrubs will move in and simply out-compete the carnivorous
plants, possibly because of their better developed root systems.
Carnivorous plants in fact can't stand nutrient-rich soil. It will kill
them, according to Mazrimas. The roots of the Venus flytrap, he said, "have
lost their ability to pick up nutrients." Instead. these plants have
successfully developed an alternative method of getting their nourishment
from animals. And those nutrients are directed to building their leaves and
stems. not their roots.
Although some carnivorous plants such as bladderworts can flourish in the
watery world of swamps. and others can do well in thin, nutrient-poor swamp
soil, their lives are limited. In bogs and swamps, for instance, if there
aren't periodic fires to clear out other plant species, carnivorous plants,
which can tolerate the heat and flames, will lose out in the competitive
game that nature plays.
Plants that eat animals may seem odd, but they are a dramatic example of
organisms adapting to their environment and successfully exploiting it."
>From CHEM MATTERS, December 1993, pp 4-5
Regards
Mark T Bachelor
Biology Technican
Melbourne Girls Grammar School Voice: +61 (03) 9866 1676
South Yarra, Victoria, Australia Fax: +61 (O3) 9866 5768
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