> > Does anyone out there have plenty of experience with the cultivation
> > of Biovularia, Ibicella and Genlisea, and wants to share is expertise
> > with us??
>
> Not really plenty, but successful anyway.
>
> It's my first year with Ibicella, but I've had good germination
> and growth so far using the same as works for my Proboscidea - a
> compost of 1:1:1 houseplant compost:sand:perlite kept not too damp.
> It seems to make a lot of roots, so I've potted up twice in as many
> months (now 5",) and I'm giving it as much light as I can which it
> seems to appreciate (4x36W fluorescent strips 18 inches above the
> pots.) There's a flower bud forming on one, so I guess I'll be sure
> then whether it is really Ibicella (though it seems distinctly
> different in some of it's features than Proboscidea parviflora or
> louisianica which I also grow.)
I don't know which is Ibicella and which is Proboscidea, but I
just discovered one growing at my university's arboretum, on a manure
pile. One of the gardners told me it just appeared there. The plant is
truly humongous, with very thick stems, looking almost like a pumpkin
plant. The flowers are a bright golden-yellow and the hooked fruit are
gigantic.
I've received seeds of these plants in the past, but was never
able to get them to germinate, except in one case (but the plants didn't
produce seeds!). A few weeks back I was repotting a bunch of things and
took the time to remove all the old pots, where no CPs seemed to remain
alive, to sift some sand out from my CP soil mix, which was already
mostly rotted. I wanted to use the large-grained sand for some Ping soil
mixes.
Surprise, surprise, a few weeks after the Pings were in their new
pots, out come 2 Ibicella/Proboscidea!! After months or even years
sitting in their pots, they decided to germinate only after having been
sifted with the sand and mixed with vermiculite and styrofoam!
> Genlisea hispidula - I have had one of my plants growing with the
> traps hanging down into water since I saw that CPN cover photo, but
> although it looks good, it doesn't seem to grow as well this way -
> I'm planning to return it to peat and sand once I've taken some
> nice photos. Tolerant and easy to grow seems to sum it up, unlike
> the S.American spp.
As Jan mentioned, I have been exporting seeds of the Brazilian
Genlisea for a few years. Almost all the seeds are wild collected.
Believe it or not, I haven't been able to cultivate these plants!! I've
tried introducing plants into my collection from the wild so many times
that in my last few trips I gave up and never even brought any back!
Well this applies mainly to the yellow-flowered species of section
Genlisea: G.aurea, G.repens, G.filiformis, and G.pygmaea. The species of
section Tayloria are apparently much easier to cultivate, though not as
easy as G.hispidula. These species are: G.violacea, G.lobata, and
G.uncinata. Well, I can't really complain about the latter. Luckily, this
fantastically large species is growing very well for us in cultivation,
and not like the others which die out from one day to the other without
apparent reason.
So I guess I can't really offer any tips on cultivation. Apparently
people in temperate countries are having more luck with these plants.
Maybe it's more similar to the species' mountain habitats where you are
than where I am.
>
> Biovularia/U.biovularioides - does anyone know if this is actually
> in cultivation? I've never come across it.
I'm not sure which species were previously considered Biovularia,
but I can talk for U.biovularia at least. I've just read here that my
article on U.biovularioides has just been published in CPN, so I won't go
into too much detail.
U.biovularioides was only know from 2 collections (1914 and
1940), mostly because it's VERY tiny, the smallest Utric of all. I
discovered it totally accidentally, while cleaning some aquatic
D.communis with long stems for herbarium. Last year I rediscovered this
species in Goias state, where it was collected in 1940. It turned out
to be very abundant in that area.
I've tried introducing them to cultivation, but unfortunately
they never lasted more than a week. They seem to need slow flowing water.
Fernando Rivadavia
Sao Paulo, Brazil