RE: Cuban Pinguicula in cultivation

From: Paul Temple (paultemple@ecologycal.demon.co.uk)
Date: Sat Apr 29 2000 - 05:55:04 PDT


Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 13:55:04 +0100
From: Paul Temple <paultemple@ecologycal.demon.co.uk>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1337$foo@default>
Subject: RE: Cuban Pinguicula in cultivation

Sorry Michael

With a grave risk of being accusd of hogging the show, I have to admit
to probably being the "list member [who] made a voyage to Cuba".

So, I'll try to answer your questions.

1) I'm curious now how these plants did in cultivation.

Not particularly well is probably a fair answer. I have two species
growing in very ow numbers, P. filifolia and P. albida. The P.
filifolia is an easy grower as long as it is kept in peat, always wet,
and very hot. Even short exposure to low temperatures (anything below
16 degees C is a risk) can prove fatal. If happy, the plant simply
divides regularly, eventually forming a grass-like forest. P. albida is
an ephemeral species, grwoing as an annual (it is an annual) but only in
the rainy season. The leaves are very thin, almost as thin as those of
filmy ferns. Thus, in cultivation it needs to be both very wet and
with high humidity. I have found pollination to be very difficult.

I tried P. benedicta, a simply gorgeous small species, but with no
success. A friend also tried but growth was so slow as to be almost
unmeasureable. I elieve soil requirements are very specific and not
just the usual peat or peat/sand or even some of the more open mixes
Pings seem to like.

I have another plant but can not confirm what it is as yet.

I also tried P. lignicola, a rare example of an epiphytic Ping. However
this species is a real challenge and may never be successful in
cultivation. It abhores contact with water yet has to be able to obtain
sufficient water (through its leaves) every 24 hours.

2) Are many people growing them?

No. There are a limited number (very few) growing plants of P.
filifolia that originated from a colection in Cuba by Harald Weiner (who
has since disappeared). Plants originating from P. filifolia seed
collected by myself are readily available commercially from my friend,
Jan Jacques Labat, at Natures y Paysages in France, now actually
registered as one of France's Botanic Gardens.

I'm not aware that anyone other than myself has P. albida. The same can
be said for P. benedicta (that no-oe else has it) though I don't
either!!! One duplicate of the other species I have is in the
collectionof a friend and a Botanic garden (in the USA) has tissue
cultued the plants for me. There are under instructions, based on
Biodiversity Rules, not to distribute the plant nor disclose its
location. Once I've confirmed which species it is (please please
flower) I can then deal with distribution issues.

I believe I'm the only person to attempt growing P. albida (or it's
close cousin P. casabitoana) in cultivation, neither with much success.

I have traced the illegal revoval of P. jackii from Cuba (I regret to
say that all the CP reputedly removed from Cuba by Harald Weiner were
removed without permission and against the wishes and without the
knowledge of the Cuban authorities). I'm not sure that this was
intentional but it is a fact. Even worse, the last occurance of P.
jackii in "cultivation" has passed as the plant has died. (By the way,
my own personal interpretation of introduction into cultivation requires
a plant to be sustained either by division, by sexual reproduction or by
tissue culture such that new generations are proced or such that the
original is cloned. I do not accept the the transplantation of a few
specimens into artificial conditions is in itself an introduction into
cultivation. Thus, of all the species removed from Cuba, only P.
filifolia seems to be truly in cultivation.)

3) Have they entered the commercial trade?

As I said, yes for P. filifolia - all the plants coming out of Natures y
Paysages were of my stock given so that plants could be available to
all.

>It would be interesting to look at some real situations. The
hypothetical scenarios being presented here are mostly designed to be
paradoxes.

Yes, I guess my playing Devil's Advocate doesn't help. But on the
subject of Cuba, i have been allowed to grow the plants that I have
under a very special agreement. As far as I know (and i am in contact
with all the relevent botanists and botanic garden sites in Cuba) I am
the only person permitted to remove CP from Cuba. I am working with the
Cubans to identify plants at risk and studies that can be done in
general on CP. I am specifically assisting with the potential
preservation of one species. And I am in discussion constantly
regarding the creating of a CP preservation area, a reservation if you
like. his is hampered by a lack of funding (Cuba has no funding
available for ghis, even though the amounts needed are tiny by western
standards).

I have, as reported previously, seen populations destroyed by farming
(that itself could not be maintained!). I have also witnessed the
decline of a site that appears to be the last remaining location for the
species growing there (sorry, I will not give more info at present). It
appears that the decline could be the result of hurricane damage or of
overgrowth. It would be a whole essay if I tried to describe all that
was potentially involved.

Of the species in Cuba, all but P. filifolia and P. albida must be
consider to be at risk. In most cases this is because of the threat of
current polution (fumes and acid rain from mining). As I've said
before, the Cuban's are forced to accept whatever pactices foreign
companies wish to adopt in Cuba because they are blackmailed to accept
such practices if they want to earn any hard currency. This is an
artificial situation created entirely by the American government who
arbitrarily impose an ongoing emargo (stranglehold) on Cuba despite the
fact that Cuba is far less gulty of any crimes (as defined by the USA)
than other countries such as China wi8th which the USA trades openly.
Unfortunately, for all their power, US Presidents appear guilty of
cawardice as, having engineered vitriolic hatred of Cuba, they now don't
know or do not dare reverse an outdated and functionless policy. I
mention this because ythe policy is needlessly killing wildlife (an, by
the way, the more the USA does against Cuba, the more the Cubans love
and support Castro!).

My last word on the Cuban Pings (the subject of this email before I
wandered off!) is that I'm planning to publish an article (that this
sort of pre-empted) as soon as possible, maybe (hoped for) in the
autumn. The delay is not laziness, it is to complete collation of the
information, which has to be done with my Cuban colleagues and, in
particular, with Cristina Panfet Valdez, who is both my friend and
Cuba's CP specialist. Any work I do on Cuban CP is done with Cristina
(for which I owe thanks to Angela Leiva of the Jardin Botanico de
Cuba). I had hoped to give the article its first airing at the
Conference in California, but it can't be ready in time (and I didn't
feel it fair to occupy people's valuable time giving the same
presentation in California that I already gave last time in Germany).

Finally, less on Pings/CP but more on plants in general, there is the
subject of distribution. I distributed P. filifolia (via JJ Labat) as
it was already in cultivation (though exceedingly rare). However, all
other Cuban CP and many other Cuban plants are not in cultivation and
are endemic to Cuba. Therefore, my rights to study these plants and to
remove specimens are based on Cuba's permission for me to do so, which
in turn is dependent on their request that I fully respect the
biodiversity conventions. Thus no distribution will occur unless and
until the Cubans allow it. This is not my attempt at protectionism, i
would dearly love others to grow these plants. As to a longer
explanation as to why Cuba cares so much about biodiversity rules, that
will have to wait ntil I have time to write it!

I hope this answers your questions.

Cheers

Paul



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