Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 10:33:55 +0100 From: Laurent Legendre <laurent.legendre@univ-reims.fr> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg269$foo@default> Subject: D. neocaledonica, N. vieillardii and New Caledonia
Hi everyone,
I' m back from a one-month trip to New Caledonia where I saw millions of
plants of D. neocaledonica, N. vieillardii and U. uliginosa.
Seeds where scarce since all three carnivorous plants where barely starting
to bloom. I was however able to collect a few seeds from D. neocaledonica
and N. Vieillardii and I'll share them as much as possible since I already
have these plants growing at home (seeds collected and planted after my
last visit last year). They are of course one year old (not fresh) since
they stayed on the plants all that time. I have already promised some
seeds to a couple of people and they should recieve them this week. But,
by looking at the CP digest of december, I've noticed that many more people
are interested in these seeds. So please, email me privately if you're
still interested.
I took a large amount of pictures of all of these plants and I'll make them
available on the Net as soon as possible. I'm not a computer expert but
some people have already proposed their help.
D. neocaledonica grows from sea level up to 1000m either in running water
or where rain falls often. In culture, plant do well at conditions similar
to the ones suitable to the northern Australian species. This did not seem
to be a variable species even though mature rosettes vary from 1 cm to 12
cm in diameter. This reflects the growing conditions mostly. I've heard
of all-green plants growing half-way north on the main island. Sadly, I
haven't had any chance to check on that information.
N. vieilardii is extremely variable even within one population with
pitchers as big as 1l. Plants near Prony have a brown tint which others do
not have.
A lot of work should however be mdone on Utrics. These are rare and
herbarium specimen even rarer. U. uliginosa is really extremely variable
from one spot to the next but with a carelull look all plants fit the
criteria described by Taylor. Once, I saw a weird utric growing under the
water, attached to the soil in a river. It was mostly growing at 5 m below
the water surface (as low as could go without air bottles) with a heavy
stream. Some plants could be seen at only one meter below the surface and
some at 18 m (!?!) if my calculations are corect. I did not collect any
specimen because the flow of water was too heavy but I was told that one
specimen has been sent to Taylor a few years ago (in alcohol) and he never
identified the plant. The stolons are white and the plant has an unusually
high number of pitchers. What was funny is that this plant was always
growing along with a water fern and a fresh water sponge. Two nice plants
too.
A last thing, Yan I effectively saw the parasitic gimnosperm you talked
about. I saw it at two places gowing on roots or at the base of the trunk
of other gimnosperms (always the same tree). This is a wounder island.
Happy growing,
Laurent Legendre.
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