Cuba Field Trip

Michael.Chamberland (23274MJC@MSU.EDU)
Wed, 12 Apr 95 20:54 EDT

Paul, great field trip account! Sounds like Cuba is going the way
of Madagascar... habitat destruction amidst human squallor. :-(

I kind of have to wonder, how did lowly cuban botanists get use of
a 4-wheel drive vehicle, fully tanked with precious gas? Did you
have to arrange for them to get these commodities?

How does Pinguicula filifolia compare to P. gypsicola? Interestingly,
I just looked in Slack's 1986 book, where he says "with the exception of
P. filifolia, none [Cuban Pings] appears to be in cultivation as I write,
but can be expected to be introduced shortly".

Oh, and since you are interested in cacti too :-) did you see the
endemic montypic genus _Dendrocereus nudiflorus_? I don't think this
is in cultivation, but since it seems to be close to Acanthocereus
I imagine it can be somewhat rank? My book also lists 7 species of
_Leptocereus_ endemic to Cuba, one of which, _L. wrightii_ is
listed as extinct.

Michael Chamberland