Drosophyllum

Gordon Wells (gwells@iri.upc.es)
Wed, 18 Sep 1996 11:14:28 UTC+0200

Hi Loyd,

> They thus appear as quit neat little shrubs. I think Adrian Slack
> talks about them falling over and growing about 6 foot in length.
> Gordon were the plants you saw shrub like or long and leggy as Slack
> described them?

All the plants I saw (about 100-150 plants) at the site I visited were
compact, upright little shrubs. In fact, their stems were all very
short (maybe 5cm max), making it look like all the leaves grew out of a
single growing point. The biggest one I saw was no more than 40cm tall,
and this has nothing to do with their age, as the largest ones were
quite old plants with thick (1cm) stems and lots of dried leaves from
previous seasons. I don't remember whether the plants Slack described
were ones he saw in the wild or cultivation specimens (I suspect the
latter), but I would imagine that this plant might get a long, sagging
stem due to lack of sufficient sunlight. The ones I saw grew on a
south-facing slope in strong, direct sunlight all day long. Other
people have mentioned to me that their own plants had long, sagging
stems, and it just so happens that all of them live at higher, cooler
latitudes than me.

> Gordon send me your address and I'll sort you out with seed.

Thanks very much. My home address is below. We can arrange for a trade
or reimbursement by personal e-mail.

Best regards,

Gordon Wells
Apdo. de Correos 9101
Barcelona 08080
SPAIN