North eastern South Africa fieldwork

From: Eric Green (saharris@iafrica.com)
Date: Wed Jan 21 1998 - 11:01:57 PST


Date: Wed, 21 Jan 98 19:01:57 GMT
From: saharris@iafrica.com (Eric Green)
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg286$foo@default>
Subject: North eastern South Africa fieldwork

Greetings all,

Robert Gibson here. I have just return from an interesting few days in north
eastern South Africa where, thanks to Dot and Mark Cappaert and Lis
Rodriqus, I had the pleasure of seeing some native carnivorous plants in
the wild.

Drosera madagascariensis var. major. This robust, green form of D.
madagascariensis was seen at two spring heads around Pretoria. They
grow gregariuosly in stretches of open water and water covered rock.
Some plants were submerged and were anchored very poorly to the thin
soil.

Drosera burkeana. Seen at one site where it grew in abundance. It looks
very like D. rotundifolia.

Utricularia gibba. Formed a green mat, and living mulch in shallow, slow
moving water over sandy soil.

Utricularia bisqamata. Abundant at both sites near Pretoria. The scapes
grow to 30 cm tall amongst sedges. The flowers have a purple brown
colour to the free edge of the lower lip. A cleistogamous form was also
found at one site but was not common.

Utricularia livida. Found at one site in the northern Drakensburg. Scapes,
to 5cm tall, with up to 3 flowers. Generally hidden by sedges.

Many promising sites were also seen but they will need to wait until my
next visit to South Africa.

For more information on plants in this area I suggest you contact Dot
Cappaert, Secretary of the South African Carnvorous Plant Society, PO Box
1378, Krugersdorp, 1740. South Africa. Kruger National Park is certainly
worth a visit if you are in the area.

Cheers and great cp growing,

Robert



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