Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1999 16:05:35 -0200 From: "Fernando Rivadavia-Lopes" <fe_riva@uol.com.br> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg4073$foo@default> Subject: RE: Loyd in Brazil
Dear Loyd,
>Fernando missed a bit! Actually we went to Marcellos house first
>which gave us the opportunity to see his collection. Marcello had
>quite a few U.nelumbifolia growing outside in his yard in little
>polythene clad enclosures. Marcello is also into Cacti and he had
>dozens of seedling plants from seed gathered on a previous trip to
>Minas Gerais I think.
Wow, so much happened that I completely forgot about this! The
most amazing part is that MArcelo has his U.nelumbifolia growing in live
sphagnum. Although I'd suspected this was possible, it was the first time I
actually saw this species growing outside a bromeliad.
>There were all
>sorts of the weird and wonderful things in Mauro's green house
>including the dried snake's skin shed and draped over several pots
>of orchids. 'What's this Mauro?' -- 'Oh that's from the large
>yellow and brown snake that lives in here -- its OK it doesn't bite'
>was Mauro reply. Fernando liken this to dog owners who swear their
>beloved pets don't bite either. In a green house full of plants
>your imagination is left to run riot as you choose to size the
>options of the snake appearing at your ankles, or coming face to face with
it
>when inspecting the vanilla orchid.
Great! Now everyone on the list will be thinking that it's
common for Brazilians to have dozens of snakes all over their backyards!!
:):):)
>>In fact just before his house, there is a pond full of the aquatic
>>U.foliosa and U.gibba. Neither was in flower however.
>
>Not to mention the noisy birds and the half rat/half beaver creature
>that was swimming around and there was the hummingbirds and
>the\205\205 Well its getting off topic but Mauro lives in a very
>interesting environment.
I don't remember the noisy birds (maybe something common around
here that we don't even notice anymore), but the rat/beavers are somewhat
widespread, although I think it's the first time I see them here in Brazil.
I think they're called muskrats in English.
>Yet again we were looking for CP in areas of human disturbance along
>a railway line. We did check out a small waterfall and stream. We
>found a few more Drosera in boggy ground close to the stream where
>Fernando managed to find a particularly boggy part to try and stand
>in. Anyway by the time we got back to car we all had a reasonable
>amount of reddish brown mud on us, Fernando rather more than the
>rest of us.
That's what I get for walking ahead and making it easy for those
following me!
>When we got in the car it soon became apparent that
>something was wrong. Although I cannot speak Portugese I managed to
>pick up something about dog ****, then in English Fernado suggests
>we check our boots. The car absolutely stank! Now bearing in mind
>we had been plodding round the boggy margins of a stream and were
>covered in 20mud anyway, it might be hard to tell the difference
>between mud and dog **** anyhow! Then in conversation Mauro is
>suggesting it is the red mud that smells and thus the reason the car
>smells so badly is that Fernando is covered in the stuff -- thus
>Fernando smells -- charming! A few hours later after the smell had
>subsided or after we got used to it, the offending dogs poo was
>found located on one of the floor mats -- thus we could no longer
>blame poor old Fernando!
Is there an equivalent for "colorblidness" in relation to smell?
Well, that's what everyone in the car seemed to be since I was the only one
who could tell that it was dog s___ and not mud! And I get blamed for it
just because I can smell it! 8-P
>What a treat! The location was on the edge of a lake where what I
>can only describe as a sphagnum bog occurred. G.aurea really is a
>fantastic species - and here was a bog full of them and loads of
>flowers too. However I was really fascinated by the rosettes where
>the leaves were so tightly packed together they reminded me of
>certain Mexican Pinguicula rosettes -- particularly those forms of
>P.moranensis et al which produce semi-buried winter rosettes
>composed of many small succulent leaves.
Interesting comparison! The rosettes were a bit smaller and drier
than usual. The paper-thin leaves are usually heavily coated with
transparent goo.
Take Care,
Fernando Rivadavia
Sao Paulo, Brazil
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