Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 17:57:52 -0200 From: "Fernando Rivadavia" <fe_riva@uol.com.br> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3508$foo@default> Subject: D.intermedia -- again; D.uniflora -- almost....
Dear friends,
I recently revisited the D.intermedia site on the northern coast
of Rio de Janeiro state (which I discovered in September). I had a bit more
time to explore the area this time and I was hoping to find other
D.intermedia sites nearby, but no such luck. It's only found around one
lagoon in the flat sandy areas between the sand dunes and the restinga
vegetation, where a small river / stream seems to emerge. Actually, the
water just suddenly seeps out from the restinga vegetation before it seeps
through the sand dunes and into the ocean. I explored the whole site and was
sad to see there wasn't much more to it. I had gotten the impression last
time that it extended a long way N along the coast. I found a similar site a
few km further N, but not a single CP, not even U.subulata, to go with it.
I guess the good news about this site is that I found lots more
D.intermedia growing in the stretch I hadn't explored last time, growing
densely. Many more plants were in flower this time and lots of mature scapes
with seeds too. Also saw several open flowers of U.subulata and U.tricolor.
The most exciting find was U.erectiflora. I think this is the
first time I see this species in Brazil (I'd already seen it in Venezuela).
There are several closely related and nearly undistinguishable species here
in Brazil which make identification a bit difficult, but I'm almost sure it
is this species. The flowers are yellow and the scapes were only up to
around 10-20cm. It was growing mostly in flooded soil, under up to10cm of
water. Finding this species wasn't a real big surprise since it seems to be
a common occurrence in restingas and I'd alredy suspected it was there last
time from some of the Utrics leaves I'd found among the D.intermedia.
On the following day I returned to my favorite CP site in Rio,
on the Serra dos Orgaos mountains. I revisited U.geminiloba, U.nephrophylla,
U.reniformis, U.tricolor, and U.nelumbifolia. Unfortunately none of the
latter were in flower (although last year in september there were lots of
flowers and seeds. I was also finally able to catch the local D.villosa in
flower (first time) and preserved a few specimens in alcohol. This is the
form most commonly cultivated around the world, also known as Orgelgeberg
(or something like that, which means Organ Mts in German), and featured in
Slack's book. It has hairy scapes and nicely colored leaves.
Driving around the city of Teresopolis, I found several roadside
moss-covered rocky walls dripping with water and loaded with U.geminiloba,
U.nephrophylla, and D.communis. In fact I've never seen so many D.communis
(or any Drosera?) per square centimeter in my life!! They were packed! Too
bad none were in flower yet, since this would be an excellent place to
collect seeds.
On the opposite side of the Serra dos Orgaos, driving around the
city of Petropolis, I discovered a site with more U.nephrophylla. The
flowers were a very light lilac, almost white. In fact all the flwoers I saw
of this species were apparently a little lighter in color than I remembered
on other occasions -- which means there are environmental factors at play.
I was also recently in Chile for work, at the city of Concepcion
(about 450km further S from Santiago). Unfortunately however, I wasn't able
to change my plane ticket so I could spend the weekend there botanising.
DAMN! Although I did see lots of cool D.uniflora, P.antarctica, and
P.chilensis herbaria at the Universidad de Concepcion and realised they are
much more widespread in S Chile than I thought! Previously, I had no idea
what these Pings looked like, so I was very excited to finally see them.
P.antarctica looks like one of those SE USA species like P.pumilla or
P.lutea. The rosettes were not very big, mostly around 5cm diameter I'd say
and with scapes 10-20cm more or less (I'm estimating from memory here...).
P.chilensis looks more like some Mexican species, with rosettes about the
same size, but with wider leaves and very short fragile scapes bearing small
flowers.
The most frustrating part about seeing all those beautiful
herbarium specimens was not that these 3 species could be found only a few
hundred km further S around the city of Valdivia, an easy drive for a
weekend, but the fact that all the flowering specimens had been collected
around November - December. So I was not only missing the chance to see them
in the wild for now, but also of catching them in flower. Oh well, maybe
next time...
As for D.uniflora, I was surprised at how similar some larger
specimens were to D.stenopetala from New Zealand. Most were artificially
large, obviously from growing among faster growing Sphagnum of other
vegetation which forced it to grow upwards quickly, leaving a stem behind
(sort of like P.villosa, as I've heard). I got the impression that
D.stenopetala is cooler growing than
D.uniflora, but am not sure. As far as I could tell, the futherst N
D.uniflora grows is around 40 degrees latitude, at the height ov
Valdivia, Chile. The southernmost points where it occurs are the Falklands,
Ushuaia (southernmost tip of S.America), and I saw one collection from an
island in the Chilean Antarctic Territory. But since I lost the list where
I'd written down all the herbarium info, I can't confirm exactly where this
is since I don't have the isalnd's name. Anyways, the S-most D.uniflora site
must be somewhere around 55 degrees latitude. I think D.stenopetala is more
or less the same, right? BUT... if I remember well, D.stenopetala only
occurs at high altitudes, correct? How much I don't know. The D.uniflora
collections I saw were at sea level or maximum around 500m I believe.
Best Wishes,
Fernando Rivadavia
Sao Paulo, Brazil
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