Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 22:45:50 +0900 From: ss66428 <ss66428@hongo.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3149$foo@default> Subject: Brazilian Expedition part 15
To all,
For the next several minutes I suffered a severe taxonomic short-
circuit and I still feel rather confused about what I saw at that seepage site
at the Chapada dos Veadeiros in late March. There I was looking at what I
believed to be giant D.hirtella var.hirtella, which wasn't so surprising to me
since this taxon is extremely variable at the C.dos Veadeiros, and suddenly I
realized that I had another taxon growing with the giant D.h.hirtella and
which looked indistinguishable except for the indumentum of the flower scapes
and the fact that one had flat rosettes while the other had semi-erect-leaves.
And what the hell was it?!?!
I won't detail all the steps I had to go through over the next few
days, ticking them off constantly in my mind, and trying to eliminate as much
as possible while trying to come to some conclusion. My first though was that
I had found the first D.roraimae population south of the Amazon Basin. OK,
there were no long stems, but these are not always present in D.roraimae.
The only other option I could fathom was D.communis. Unfortunately I
am not too familiar with D.roraimae and could not remember what characteristics
place it apart from D.communis other than seed shape. And the size of the
plants was just too incredible to be D.communis! The leaves in D.communis vary
between 4-15mm in length, but these specimens had leaves 18-33mm in length!!
OK, I admit I have seen specimens of D.communis once, back in 91 at
the Serra da Canastra, which were the same size as these specimens from Goias,
but they had been growing underwater! They even had elongated stems and looked
quite different from the Goias plants. The only conclusion I've come to is that
it certainly is something in the D.communis complex, but I can't say if it and
the D.h.hirtella at that site are genetically bigger or if there is something
about that site that made the grow to these fantastic proportions. I think the
latter is most likely.
Anyways, this site ended up becoming one on my top ten list as well.
There were numerous other CPs there other than these two unique forms of
D.h.hirtella and D.communis with amazingly huge rosettes densely packed with
thick leaves colored in a deep purple-red. These were: G.aurea, G.filiformis,
G.pygmaea, U.adpressa, U.laciniata, U.simulans, U.amethystina, U.tricolor,
U.hispida, U.sunulata, U.triloba. And not far away there are also D.montana
var.tomentosa, D.sp."Emas", the hybrid between these two species, G.repens,
U.neottioides, and the aquatic U.sp.aff.purpurea.
So after spending maybe an hour or two cracking my mind on the giant
D.communis and D.h.hirtella problem, I headed off to the nearby area where I
had previously found D.montana var.tomentosa, D.sp."Emas", and their hybrid.
After a quick stop by a stream to admire and photograph a frog I caught which
was perfectly camouflaged to match the locally abundant grey sandstone covered
with white lichens, I found the exact site I wanted and patted myself on the
back, surprised once again with my own ability to locate a site years later.
After numerous more pictures, herbarium collections, plants in silica
gel for my DNA experiments, specimens in alcohol, and measurements with my GPS
(especially difficult under rain since an umbrella held over this small
instrument weakens the signals from satelites and often prevents a good
reading), I climbed back in my car and headed a few km up the road. I wanted
to find another very interesting spot I had found on my previous trip, the only
place where I had seen D.sp."white hirtella" and D.colombiana at the C.dos
Veadeiros.
Fortunately my memory didn't fail me again and even through rain and
fog I stumbled directly onto the area I wanted. First was a population of
D.colombina growing in sand among sparse grasses. This species resembles
D.brevifolia and apparently goes dormant during the winter dry season, growing
back from the roots in the summer. There were several flower scapes, but
because of the rain none of the pink-lilac flowers were open.
Further on was another population of this species, growing in sand
mixed with quartz rubble. Around this site are several parallel crests of
sandstone cutting a hillside from top to bottom. The D.colombinana grow between
two of these and on the N-facing side of these crests I found once again
D.sp."white hirtella". They were present in large numbers and in flower,
growing either on the vertical sandstone surfaces themselves or in small
pockets of soil on these rocks. The leaves are longer and more numerous than
in D.colombiana plus the lamina are rounder. The long scapes densely covered
with white hairs was the most striking difference.
To my surprise I also found a Drosera I had never found at the C.dos
Veadeiros, growing together with D.sp."white" in a small area: D.montana var.
montana. Just like what I had seen in Brasilia the day before, D.m.montana and
D.sp."white hirtella" occupying the same habitat.
The next day I was accompanied by one a good friend who is one of the
local guides (Cecilio, or better known as 'Netinho') and whose mother (known
as Dona Nenzinha) runs a little restaurant in Sao Jorge where I ate every
night. Simple and cheap, but the food is GREAT! I especially like to add some
of the piqui oil she keeps in jars on the table. This is a fruit native to
Brazilian savannas and widely used in rural areas. It gives a very special
touch and delicious taste to salty dishes. Gee, I'm hungry all of a sudden!!
Anyways, Netinho and I first explored a roadside marshy area I had
discovered a few years back, right next to the thick vegetation which grows
along the rivers in that area, including the beautiful buriti palms. Anyways,
this grassy marsh has several deep pockets filled with water. Beats me if
they're natural or not, but the surface is covered with a thin layer of green
algae on which grows the smallest of all Utrics, U.biovularioides, and
G.repens, with its traps dangling free in the water below. In the surrounding
marsh are tons of D.communis and D.sp."Emas" as well as a few other Utrics.
We then went on a long walk to an area where I knew there were tons of
CPs, including one of my main reasons for going to the Chapada dos Veadeiros:
D.sessilifolia. This is the closest place to Sao Paulo where I have seen this
species and I was keen on collecting leaf samples for my DNA experiments, to
compare with the nearly identical D.burmannii.
D.sessilifolia is the only truly annual species I know in Brazil and
unfortunately it was still too early in the season to see it in flower. In fact
I have only seen its pink-lilac flowers once, when I first saw this species in
the wild back in 92 at the Pantanal flood plain in W Brazil. Although
widespread (probably the most widespread species in S.America, rivalled only by
D.communis), it is very difficult to find D.sessilifolia.
Under constant rain, we hiked down to the D.sessilifolia area. We found
plenty of it, as well as D.h.hirtella, D.m.tomentosa, D.communis, D.sp."Emas",
the hybrid D.m.tomentosa X D.sp."Emas", G.aurea, G.filiformis, G.pygmaea,
G.repens, U.biovularioides, U.nana, U.hispida, the beautiful aquatic
U.cucullata (a personnal favorite of mine), U.laciniata, U.adpressa,
U.neottioides, U.amesthystina (present in all shapes, sizes, and colors at the
C.dos Veadeiros), U.tricolor, U.subulata, U.triloba, U.adpressa, U.hispida,
U.trichophylla, and U.purpureocaerulea.
I didn't see one or more taxa which I'm not sure where they stand
between U.pusilla, U.nigrescens, and the other species in that section. Maybe
there is one or more new species of these simple yellow-flowered Utrics present
at the Chap.dos Veadeiros. In fact I also didn't see a possible new species
similar to U.tenuissima which I had found previously. It has very short scapes
with small lilac apron-shaped flowers.
After this site I felt I had more or less seen everything I wanted to
see and collected all the important species for my work. Somewhat disheartened
by the constant rains, we didn't feel like exploring any new areas and headed
back towards Sao Jorge even though it was only around lunch time. Mostly, I
guess, I wanted to start heading back for Sao Paulo and explore a few more
places along the way. Time was short, I would be returning to Japan a week
later.
We only stopped by one more place along the road near Sao Jorge where
I had found some strange D.h.hirtella last time. A few dozen steps after going
under barbed wire brought us among the sundews and I realised why some of the
D.h.hirtella had looked strange. It was growing together with D.montana
var.montana! They must've not been in flower previously, or else I would've
noticed the difference in scape hairyness. I found some D.m.montana with very
long scapes, up to around 40cm high!
We got back in the car and as soon as we started moving we heard a
terrible noise from below. We immediately jumped out and noticed that the
whole piece of metal which protects the underside of the car had simply fallen
off!! We tied it back on with some old dirty socks I intended to throw out
anyways and drove back carefully to Sao Jorge. Being the small village it is,
the local mechanic wasn't able to find the right screws, even though I took a
shower, put on some dry clean clothes, ate a last meal at dona Nenzinha's,
and packed all the equipment and plants back in the car (all of which I hadn't
planned for, intending to leave it all for when I arrived in Brasilia that
night - sacrifices made during CP trips to make the most of daylight while it
lasts). So I just placed the whole big heavy plate of metal on the backseat,
somehow balanced between all my stuff, and left Sao Jorge.
In a way it was very lucky that I had car problems because while
waiting to see if the mechanic would find the right screws, I met up with
Netinho's brother, Uiter, who was returning from a trip. We talked about
several plans they were working on for the park, including a development
project together with a few other turistic areas of the state of Goias.
And suddenly he mentioned a magic word: Serra dos Pirineus. This is
the type location of D.hirtella var.hirtella and var.lutescens and although I
knew it was somewhere in Goias, I did not know where. I quickly interrogated
him for all the info he had about the Serra dos Pirineus and found out that it
was not far from Brasilia. In fact, without knowing it was the S.dos Pirineus,
I had been planning to go there on my way back to S.Paulo, to explore the
Corumba Waterfall.
Ironically, I had found out about this waterfall in Tokyo! A Brazilian
friend of mine at the dormitory where I live had a postcard of this waterfall
in her room. When I first saw it, I noticed the vegetation on the sides of the
falls and I knew immediately that it must be in a good CP region and asked her
where it was.
Thus because of car problems I ended up gathering important information
and decided what would be my main objective on the return journey to Sao Paulo:
Serra dos Pirineus.
To be continued................ with the Serra dos Pirineus turning out better
than I expected and a few more 'oh my Gods'.
Fernando Rivadavia
Tokyo, Japan
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