Nippon Nightmare

Barry Meyers-Rice (barry@mips3.as.arizona.edu)
Wed, 17 Aug 1994 08:48:21 +0700

>OFFICIAL CARNIVOROUS PLANT-GROWERS HANDSHAKE

Michael, you are a deeply, deeply, twisted man. I think your move
to Michigan, away from the desert, has led to some mildewing of your
brain.

>Heliamphora under particularly warm conditions. Barry: Did your hybrids come
>from Hungry Plants? If so, there seems to be some common thread. At the

Ron, yes suh, I did!

>>FINALLY, David Purks alerted me to something interesting. I sent him some
>>U.graminifolia `Japan', and in a discussion with Ivo, Ivo asked him about

>Is the plant really _U.graminifolia_ in the original sense of VAHL?
>If the plant was really from Japan (and not _U.graminifolia_ VAHL), it
>could be U.graminifolia auct. (non VAHL): R.BR., PROD.NOV.HOLL.:43, 1810
>(based on material from Australia, syn. _U.uliginosa_ VAHL).

Jan, I have _U.uliginosa_ VAHL and have keyed that plant to my satisfaction.
When my _U.graminifolia_ `Japan' flowered for the first time, I keyed it
to that species, to my satisfaction. But it was a relatively early
keying for me in my Lentibularious career (!) so the next time it flowers
I'll make sure. An indication I was still inexperienced is that I didn't
check ranges! I believe the identity of the plant is _U.graminifolia_ VAHL
and that the `Japan' part is probably an error.

Oh, incidentally I photographed this plant long ago for a few articles I
did for CPN on close-up photography. Don had the article and the photographs
when he was visited by Peter Taylor. PT looked at the corolla photo and said,
that's not ``U.reticulata'' (as I had blindly thought it was---this was
pre-monograph days), that's _U.graminifolia_. While I admit that a corolla
photo is not conclusive, having any PT assessment is significant.

B