22 replies to this topic

[UtricSeb]

Hello again,

The second place in Santander where I have found CPs is a touristic place named Pescadero. It is a river running through a bed composed of big flat rocks and forming big natural pools and small falls, very good for swimming. It is located near a the small town of Curití.

Here is a view of the river:



At the borders of this river, on the wet rocks you can find some Utricularia like this U.pusilla:



There is also U.amethystina:



Although this cannot be clearly seen in the picture, the plants of U.amethystina at this place had longer scapes with more than one flower, this is different from the plants at the place I described in the first post about CPs in Santander, which had shorter scapes with one single flower.

There was also U.subulata, we could only find one flower:



We also found some leaves of U.tricolor, but not a single flower, but there were other nice critters around, like this butterfly (Siseme pallas):



and this Mantidae:

Edited by UtricSeb, 06 July 2008 - 19:34 PM.

[lil_flytrap_kid]

In response to the photo of the Mantidae - Wow.
You should enter that into some sort of nature photographer competition, the colours are lovely and the angle is great. I also love the spiralling grass in the background and the way the Mantidae seems to be turning around to look at you.

Magnificent!

[UtricSeb]

The first time I visited this place, I was looking at the mountains surrounding it and thinking there should be some CPs up there. The habitat was composed mainly of grasslands, and it was near the first placed I described in the previous topic about Santander (Mesa de los Santos), the only difference being that this place was at the other side of the Chicamocha canyon.

I asked my friend Solimary to go there with me and look for CPs and there we went. Up there the grasslands are crossed by small streams of water, and the place looks dry, whithout big trees or forests:



It did not take us long to find the first Utricularia plants along the streams of water, and later on we found our first Drosera plant. I was really excited and also surprised because the plants looked different from the plants of D.communis from around Los Santos. I did not know what this species was, but I knew by previous conversations with Fernando Rivadavia that it was possible that D.cayennensis or a related species grew around here.

Now, after showing the pictures to Fernando and Andreas Fleischmann the conclusion is that this species is related to D.cayennensis and more precisely that it conforms well with the description of D.colombiana by Fernandez-Perez so I am now calling it Drosera colombiana.

Now to the pictures.

Some plants growing in the ground, between the grasses:



A close up of one plant, showing the hairy petioles:



A group of plants, one of them with a dried flower scape:



a close up of other plant with a dried flower scape:



the plants growing shaded by the grasses are not red but green:



Here you can take an idea of the size of the plants:



Scapes and sepals have glandular hairs, and the corolla is pink, I could not find an open flower:



Another interesting find near this plants, was a frog hiding in a cave in the ground:




Well, that's all for now fellow CP lovers. I hope you liked the second part of this series.

There will soon be a third one, from a near but very different place.

Best regards,

Sebastian

[vitor b.]

Hi Seb,
Nice pictures! It seems to be a very beautiful habitat!
These forms of U. amethystina and U. subulata are very interesting!
I can't wait for the third part.  :)

Kind regards,
Vitor B.

Edited by vitor b., 17 May 2008 - 19:48 PM.

[rsivertsen]

Sebastian,

WOW! Fantastic site! Excellent photography too! Keep up the great work!

- Rich

[Daniel O.]

Hi Sebastian,

very nice pictures   and interesting habitat.
Really beautiful "D. colombiana" you have found there , they seem to have relatively short flower stalks.

I like these forms of U. amethystina and U. subulata too, till now i have never seen such a red spot in the flower, very nice.

I can´t expect to see the next part of pictures.

Best regards,

Dani

Edited by Daniel O., 18 May 2008 - 01:13 AM.

[Martin Hingst]

Hi Sebastian and thanks for the nice pics!

Hm, good for swimming? Good for the swimmer, or good for those hungry, poisonous, snappish or parasitic little devils waiting in the water

Regards

Martin

Edited by Martin Hingst, 21 May 2008 - 10:22 AM.

[Davion]

Can't-Believe 'How'-Much The Geology of The-Area You're-in, In-Columbia 'Looks'-like The-Grampians of Victoria, Australia! >(*~*)< / >(*U^)<

[vitor b.]

Hey Sebastian, where's the next part???  

[UtricSeb]

Hello Vitor and others... sorry, I have lots of work these days. I hope to write the third part soon + some updates to second part, I revisited and found lots of plants.

Please be patient ;)

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Hey Seb,

I want to see pics of the D.colombiana roots! :)

Saludos, Fernando Rivadavia

[Carlos Rohrbacher]

Ooooh, very beautiful habitat, look like brazilian places.

Martin Hingst, on 21st May 2008 - 10:21 AM, said:

Hm, good for swimming? Good for the swimmer, or good for those hungry, poisonous, snappish or parasitic little devils waiting in the water

"The savage South America"

Thanks for sharing Sebastian.

[UtricSeb]

Hello again. Here is an interesting update on this site.

When I visited on March 22 there were almost no plants, I could only find three plants and the soil looked quite dry.

After learning that Drosera species in the cayennensis group grow as seasonal plants surviving the dry seasons like an underground root, I planned to come back to Pescadero in the rainy season and confirm this. That is why I came back on Jun 7th, when the rainy season has advanced and the plants should be growing actively.

This time the soil was humid, and lots of actively growing plants of D.colombiana could be found.

This is how they look, beneath the grasses:



A close up of some groups of plants:




In the following pictures, you can see that the new rosettes grow on top of the rosette of dried leaves from the previous season:





A closer look:



Finally, I wanted to see how it is that this species survives the dry season. I dug a plant to find how the root looks and wow, what a surprise, the plants have a long and thick root that allows them to stay alive when the soil is dry in the surface but humid below the surface.

Here is the tip of the root:



I also found that the plant gows a new long and thick root for each season. In this picture you can see the thick and white new root starting to grow below the new rosette:



Finally, a picture of the whole plant with its root, in comparison with my finger so you can make an idea of its real size. Look how the root is thicker only near its tip:




Hope you like it.

Until the next time,

Sebastian

[Martin Hingst]

Hi Sebastian,

nice photos, I admit ... but what has happened to the Colombian Utricularia? All extinct?  

But hopefully next time, or I will name you DroseraSeb in the future

Thanks for the pics and regards

Martin

[UtricSeb]

Hehe, hello Martin. I have not forgotten the lovely Utrics. Part 3 of this series will have only Utrics ;)

[Daniel O.]

Hello Sebastian,

i have nothing against the Drosera pictures , i really like them.

Nice pictures from a nice species, also the root pictures are interesting.
It has been a good idea to revisit this location.

I´m also waiting for the third part.

Best regards,

Dani

[Davion]

I'm-'Hoping' He-Does-R-Fourth!!! >(*U^)<

[Drosera5150]

Interesting root on the Drosera colombiana. It reminds me of the thick rooted African species. Drosera brevifolia here in the US, also forms a long, thick tap root to cope with drier conditions...
Thanks for sharing those!
Brian.

[UtricSeb]

Ups.. now that I come back to this topic, I realize I promised a third part of this series... It's been a loooooong time but anyway, I will write it in the next days, along with a fourth one :)  ... wait for the Utrics!!

[RL7836]

UtricSeb, on 06 July 2008 - 19:35 PM, said:

Hehe, hello Martin. I have not forgotten the lovely Utrics. Part 3 of this series will have only Utrics ;)

DroseraSeb,
Really looking forward to part III! Although I admit, the finding of D. colombiana was quite amazing - definitely not a plant we see frequently! How the heck did you find out below all of that grass??

Edited by RL7836, 05 August 2012 - 20:22 PM.