Date: Wed, 17 Dec 97 17:15:10 GMT From: saharris@iafrica.com (Eric Green) To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg4748$foo@default> Subject: Hermanus fieldtrip
To all,
Robert Gibson here in Cape Town where I am merrily sketching and
photographing South African Drosera. Last Sunday Eric Green (thanks Eric)
and I went to Hermanus to check out some of the local carnivorous plants,
a summary of hat we saw is presented in order to compliment Fernando
Rivadavia's observations (Hi Fernando). We saw the following carnivorous
plants:
Drosera admirabilis, D. aliciae, D. aliciae x glabripes, D. capensis, D.
curviscapa, D. esterhuysenae, D. glabripes, D. hilaris, D. slackii, and a
large flowered variant of U. bisquamata in addition to abundant Roridula
gorgonias plants. All species, with the exception of D. hilaris, were in
scape, and most had open flowers. A brief summary of each species is
given below.
Drosera admirabilis. Small red rosettes, to 2cm diameter, with cuneiform
leaves. The open flowers are pink and a little over 1 cm across. This
species is quite abudant but easily overlooked, or dismissed as small D.
aliciae plants when not in flower. Could this be the variant which Frank
Woodvine recognised, at the same time as D. slackii, as mentioned in
Adrian Slack's second book?
Drosera aliciae. Large red rosettes, to 3cm across. It turned out to be the
local, or national, non-flower-opening day for this species when we visited.
D. aliciae x glabripes. A tentative identification of a robust, stem forming
variant which grows amongst D. aliciae on the edge of swamps. In July
Eric pointed out 2 small clusters of plants but we found many more
specimens this time, including some in scape. This variant was in
colusion with D. aliciae and there were no open flowers to study. More
work is required to confirm the identity of this interesting variant.
D. capensis. Scattered plants of the narrow leaf form occurred in the
wettest parts of the swamps. The leaves reached up to 18cm long. The
petals of many plants had a darker pink base.
D. curviscapa. Surprisingly few plants had scapes, and only one open
flower was seen. This species, although superficially similar to D. aliciae,
grows in a very different habitat, in dry surfaced sandy soils and is a
distinctive pale green in colour except under extreme water stress.
D. esterhuysenae. Attractive colonies of robust, pale green, semi-erect
rosettes grew in dry surfaced sandy soil 5 to 40 m from the peaty swamps.
A few plants were in flower, which revealled a flower structure with
undivided stigma lobes ( ie like D. capensis).
D. glabripes. Colonies of D. glabripes grew in abundance in sandy soil on
the edge of peaty swamps and on the hillsides. Despite the abundance of
scapes only a few open flowers were seen. This is a beautiful species
indeed.
D. hilaris. Only a few plants of D.hilaris had bedewed leaves. All plants
had finished flowering and ceased growing for the dry summer.
D. slackii. Stunning red rosettes of D. slackii grew in peaty soil in the
wettest parts of the swamps. Many plants were in flower.
Utricularia ? bisquamata. An attractive Utricularia, with large dark purple
flowers grows in the wettest part of one of the swamps visited. The flowers
have a ca. semi-circular lower lip 1cm across by 8mm long. The bulbous
palate is yellow edged with darker purple. The purple upper lip is folded
along its length (like U. beaugleholei), and the spur is vertical. I have yet to
study the traps to confirm if this is a form of U. capensis. Even if it is it is a
stunning plant. Of interest this was the only Utricularia found in this
swamp, although the typical, small and vigorous form of U. bisquamata
grows nearby but in a different creek system.
Roridula gorgonias. This sticky leaved, non-carnivore is locally abundant
in the peaty swamps and has come back in abundance after the fires in the
area 12 months ago. A few plants were in flower.
I have yet to sketch several of the most interesting species seen at
Hermanus, however this is being done now and over the next few days.
Cheers,
Robert
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