Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 10:02:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Barry Meyers-Rice <bamrice@ucdavis.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3372$foo@default> Subject: CP growing near salt water
Hey Folks,
Randy Palmer's note (included below) reminds me of how I've often been
intrigued that CP can grow so close to large bodies of salt water.
_Nepenthes_ can grow just a few meters from the ocean, plants of the
southeastern US can survive inundation by ocean swells, and I've seen
Italian _Pinguicula_ growing just a few meters above the high tide line.
Yet common sense tells us that salt will kill them. Very interesting. I
wonder if CP can live in salt areas as long as there is sufficient
groundwater flow of fresh water to overwhelm the occasional salty
experience? For example, the _Pinguicula_ I mentioned were growing on a
vigorously wet, dripping cliff above the water.
In graduate school, I once watered all the _Nepenthes_ in my office
terraria with bottled water, just to discover my office-mate was using my
water bottles to make brine for his saltwater aquarium. Yes, I watered all
my _Nepenthes_ with the equivalent of seawater! I spent a few hours
flushing the plants, and despite the fact they were sitting in saltwater
for several hours, they survived the ordeal just fine.
>Salt is a natual insectacide, S. leuco, and S. rubra grow across
>the street from salt water, but some plants don't need salt and they will
>grow in other places. A little salt in water keeps bugs from eating the
>roots, they get thirsty and I have yet to see a bug with high blood
>pressure. Wouter, you already said that it killed your slug inside your
>picture plant. Venus grow a mile away from the Alantic Ocean in North
>Carolina.
------------------------
Dr. Barry A. Meyers-Rice
Carnivorous Plant Newsletter
Conservation Coeditor
barry@carnivorousplants.org
http://www.carnivorousplants.org
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