Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 00:02:14 -0200 From: "Fernando Rivadavia-Lopes" <frl@mtecnetsp.com.br> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3966$foo@default> Subject: G.roraimensis in Brazil!!!!!!
Dear friends,
I have recently gotten hold of an old article from an
obscure scientific publication which I'd been seeking
out for years, thanks to my good friend Marcelo Fontana
who dug it up for me out of some dungeon in Rio de
Janeiro which calls itself a museum. It's by the famous
Lentibulariaceae taxonomist from Rio, Elza Fromm-Trinta.
She initially published an extensive work on Genlisea
spp. of southern and southeastern Brazil (1979), which
is extremely detailed and complete, but unfortunately
for most of you, it's in Portuguese. And then she did a
follow-up on Genlisea for all of Brazil (1981), which is
the one I could never find in any library.
This second paper (also in Portuguese) turned out to be
very detailed and very interesting to read as well,
although it deals almost entirely with two species:
G.guianensis and G.roraimensis. These were the only
species known to exist in Brazil back then, other than
the ones described in her previous work (G.aurea,
G.filiformis, G.pygmaea, G.repens, and G.violacea).
G.lobata and G.uncinata had not yet been described. In
Brazil, G.guianensis was only known then from a
collection in Mato Grosso state and G.roraimensis was
only known from a single collectiong in northern Brazil,
next to the Venezuelan border.
I first saw the magnificently large G.guianensis earlier
this year at the Venezuelan Gran Sabana and I am almost
sure it must also occur just over the border in Brazil
too. The collection from Mato Grosso is a bit strange,
since this is south of the Amazon Basin -- quite a
geographic and ecologic leap! Taylor mentions in his
1991 CPN special issue that it has also been collected
in the states of Bahia and Goias. Then earlier this
year, in April/May, I discovered this species in
northern Minas Gerais state, suggesting that maybe this
species is widespread over a long stretch of central
Brazil just south of tha Amazon. Curiously,
Fromm-Trinta also noticed plantlets growing from the
leaf tips and mentions that Taylor and someone else had
also written about this previously. So I wasn't the
first one who saw this it seems.
As for G.roraimensis, I had never seen any good drawings
of this species before this Fromm-Trinta paper. The
image I had in my head of it was based on a picture
featured in some CPN issue around 10 years ago. There
were some fantastic pictures of CPs on the Venezuelan
tepuis, including a beautiful shot of the real
D.arenicola -- only back then I didn't know what it was
and it wasn't identified by the authors of the article
either. And there was also a great shot of
G.roraimensis full of traps growing underwater. For
some reason, I thought that this species was only found
on tepui tops and hat they all looked like that weird
plant in the CPN picture.
When I picked up Fromm-Trinta's article to read this
week, I quickly recognized the plant drawn and described by her as
G.roraimensis. Hey, I knew this plant!!! This was the same species
as that plant I discovered earlier this year which I thought was a
new species and which I called G.sp."cerrado"!!! So it's not only
present in Brazil south of the Amazon Basin, but it also turns out
to be quite widespread. I've seen it in southern Goias state,
southwestern Minas Gerais state, as well as central Sao Paulo state.
This was the one featured in my CPN article from 1991(?) on the
Emas Nationa Park. It is very similar to the other small
yellow-flowered species native to Brazil, like an intermediate
between G.filiformis and G.pygmaea -- and very difficult to tell
apart too! The one shown in CPN must have been an extreme form in a
strange habitat. That is, if it was this species at all -- the
authors seemed to be more keen on the larger and more magnificent CP
species of that region (like most people who go there
unfortunately...).
Best Wishes,
Fernando Rivadavia Sao Paulo, Brazil
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