> Just a quick message to let people know that there's a very
> interesting
> article (albeit short) about Roridula and carnivory in 'New Scientist,
> August 31st.
This article is only a reference to another one containing the "hard
facts", plus a colour picture and some useless small talk.
The original source of information is:
A.G.Ellis & J.J.Midgley "A new plant-animal mutualism involving a
plant with sticky laves and a resident hemipteran insect", Oecologia
106:478-481 (1996).
The authors have proved (for the first time after the rather
doubtfully accurate observations by A.N.Bruce, in Not.Roy.Bot.Gard.
Edinb.17:83-98, 1907, which is - once again - not cited in the
present article!) by the film method (described by Heslop- Harrison &
Knox, in Planta 96:183-211)
"that the leaves of _R.gorgonias_ do not secrete digestive enzymes."
(Ellis & Midgley, 1996:479!).
This is (finally) the decisive statement we all (or at least nearly
all) have waited for since decades.
The mutualism mentioned (_Pameridea_ eats _Roridula_ prey; _Roridula_
feeds on hemipteran excrements) is by no means a "new" one as stated
in the title. Apparently, the paper would not have been accepted if
the title stressed the really new facts (like: "_Roridula_ is *in
fact* not carnivorous although Lloyd has stated that it is not
carnivorous on very weak evidence already in 1942").
I think this paper (as unspectacular the presented results may
appear) is one of the most excellent contributions to cp knowledge in
the past years, comparable in importance to the "discovery" of
carnivory in _Triphyophyllum_ by Green & al. and Marburger in 1979.
Please consult (and cite) A.G.Ellis & J.J.Midgley as frequently as
possible. They have really deserved it.
Enjoy!
Many thanks to Joe (M.; BTW: I have enjoyed your abstract in Am.J.Bot;
would have enjoyed more details!) for having provided the initial
reference.
Kind regards
Jan