Re: Genlisea violacea in CPN

GWONG@raychem.com
Fri, 23 Jun 1995 12:14:40 -0700

Fernando,

>I just received the June CPN issue and was amazed to see those giant
>G.violacea traps on the cover! According to my literature, the largest
>G.violacea traps are 4cm long, while those in the picture are at least
>10cm in length! Does anybody live near Geoff Wong to ask him for me
>exactly how long those traps are?

I have not seen the latest issue of CPN yet. Judging from your
description, the picture you mention must be a photo taken by Joe Mazrimas
of a plant I exhibited last year. Apparently the photo was mislabeled--the
plant was Genlisea hispidula, not G. violacea. Traps are about 6-8 cm
long.

>The way the photo shows Geoff Wong's plant, I'd expect it would have
>greenish traps, since these are exposed to light, not to mention that
>they'd probably also be budding into new plantlets. Maybe he keeps the
>clear container covered most of the time, not allowing sunlight to
>reach the traps.

You are correct. What you see is my display setup. I normally have the
the plant growing in an opaque container to exclude light, in order that
the traps develop more or less normally. Genlisea has always fascinated
me. Because it is so difficult to see the traps, I developed this method
to display the plant without having to disturb it. I've been planning to
write an article for CPN describing my growing method, but have not had
time yet.

Geoff Wong