Re: Drosera slackii

From: Steve Woodward (for238@abdn.ac.uk)
Date: Tue Aug 31 1999 - 06:09:01 PDT


Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 09:09:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Steve Woodward <for238@abdn.ac.uk>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3093$foo@default>
Subject: Re: Drosera slackii

I think that Adrian Slack 'found' the species now know as
Drosera slackii on an expedition to South Africa,
presumably somewhere in the highland areas, as it was
initially known as Drosera 'Highland Red', whilst waiting
for the taxonomists to give it an official botanical name.
When Slack became ill and had to give up his collection and
collecting, the species was named after him as a tribute.

I have about 500 plants (ex vitro) in my home glasshouse at
the moment, and they look fantastic; some are producing
lots of flowers. There is no problem with formation of
'dew'. They are growing in deep seed trays (approx. 5cm)
in a mixture of two parts sphagnum peat to one part
perlite, but this is only the weaning mix. I am sure they
would do even better if one part sand were present in the
above mixture. They are watered every day with acidic
water drawn from my own well (actually a cistern buried in
a bog on the top of the hill), but I suppose I am quite
lucky with the water in this respect (its not great when it
eats through copper heat exchangers and pipes in the house
though!).

Steve Woodward
----------------------
Dr. Steve Woodward
University of Aberdeen
Department of Forestry
MacRobert Building
581 King Street
Aberdeen AB24 5UA
Scotland
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1224 272669
Fax: +44 (0)1224 272685
s.woodward@abdn.ac.uk
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/forestry/staff/sw.htm



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