Dear Utricularia-fans,

After the photographs of U. hetrochroma from the summit of Amurí-tepui, I’d like to introduce to you another fascinating rheo-lithophytic Utricularia species (i.e. a Utricularia which grows in seeping water attached to bare rock).



The margins of the above river did host Utricularia oliveriana, a lowland species endemic to rivers of the Guayana shield. This is the “little sister” of the well-known rheo-lithophyte U. neottioides, which is much more widespread than the rare U. oliveriana.





Like in U. neottioides, the flowers of U. oliveriana are cream white, scented and the palate is reduced to a narrow rim, so that the corolla is permanently open (not a snap-dragon-type flower like in many other Utricularias).







In contrast to U. neottioides, which has segmented thin leaves like many aquatics, U. oliveriana has entire petiolate leaves, reminiscent of the leaves of many terrestrial Utricularia species.





Whereas U. neottioides can be found growing attached to deep riverbeds and even rocks in waterfalls (see threads and beautiful photos in this forum by our Brazilian friends!), its smaller sister U. oliveriana prefers to grow at the margins of rivers, attached to stones and rocks that are only covered by a thin film of water.



Note the vigorous red stolons, with which the plant attaches itself to the bare rock. Sorry for the bad quality of that photo, but it was hard to get some decent takes without any reflection of the water surface.
The nasty puri-puri sandflies which kept flying into my nose, eyes and ears, and which cause itchy bites when sucking your blood, did not make the job easier to get some nice photos of the lowland species of the Gran Sabana ;).

Another tiny Utricularia which grew next to U. oliveriana was U. tenuissima. However, this minute species prefers to grow in mud and sandy soils which accumulated in depressions along the river margins, quite often in a thick film of filamentous algae. That’s why I cannot show you any photograph of the small thin leaves.









U. tenuissima was placed in a section of its own by Peter Taylor (because of the unique oblong seed capsules and the strange shape of the traps). However, the flowers look very similar to some Brazilian species of section Aranella (U. parthenopipes, U. laciniata, U. spec. ‘Chapada Diamantina’), and my first molecular estimations indicate that it is indeed close to that section.

More soon,
All the best,

Andreas

Hi Andreas,

you got some really nice shots! And you seem to have plenty of time
So I have to hurry now, before you have posted everything...

But please not that word Puri-Puri again - even one week at home, and I still cannot find some sleep without a load of Antihistamins

Looking forward to your next shots -

Martin

More incredible shots in another incredible field report!

You say the U. oliveriana flowers are scented... what do they smell like? I've found that my U. livida from Merrivale, SA smells like artificial grape flavoring, and I'd be interested to know how South American species smell.

The seeds of these species must be tiny!

Thanks for these utric field reports - we really need more of them.

Hi Andreas,

wow, U. oliveriana is really a beauty.
Any more discoveries?

Thanks for sharing these pictures and i´m looking forward to see more of them.

Best regards,

Dani

Great shots Andreas!!

Which part of the Gran Sabana was this? I only saw U.oliveriana in the west, near Puerto Ayacucho.

Jeff, I saw huge amounts of both U.oliveriana and U.neottioides in the Puerto Ayacucho area and because there were so many flowers, it was easy to detect their scent.

If I remember correctly, U.neottioides was a stronger, sickly-sweet smell while U.oliveriana was also sweet but with a tinge of carrion-rotten to it.

Thanks tons Andreas!
Fernando Rivadavia

Herr Doktor,

The field report on the U oliveriana and the U heterochroma are both very interesting however they lack certain details, specifically, who found the oliveriana, and who found the first heterochroma flower while you were off taking pictures of other less interesting utrics??? I await your public confirmation of this vital fact.

Yours Down Under, with tongue in cheek,

DC

Hello,

Thanks to you all for the nice comments.

As Fernando already stated, the scent of U. oliveriana is sweet and strong. I assume that these plants are pollinated by flies (which would explain the broad open palate as well).

@spotc:
Sorry, of course it was Spot Cullen AKA Cullens from Tasmania, who found ALL the interesting Utricularia stuff, while I was still looking at boring tiny yellow flowers that all looked the same. ;) How could I have forgotten this? ;) Thanks again to you and all who joined this amazing fieldtrip! And a special thanks to you for your ...erh.. "wake-up-calls", finding interesting plants on the tepuis and for getting so many nice "outakes" of Lord McPherson's ;);).

@Martin:
Unfortunately I don't have much time at the moment, I'm covered in work again. However, as soon as I need some rest from writing scientific articles on CPs at university, I get on CP UK forum to write some... well... scientific articles on CPs ;).

All the best,

Andreas

Love your work Fleischy!

XXX

Thanks Fernando, and interesting observation Andreas.

Gah! Just field report after more field reports I envy you, I really do

Great photos

Hey Spot,

Andreas hardly ever finds the new CPs, because he is always lagging behind everyone else taking all the pics, even of the boring yellow Utrics, hehehe! ;)

Best wishes,
Fernando

Very interesting species of utrics.

The minutissima has some similarities as far as I can see with the Brazilian U. laciniata, Or am I seeing too much?

Thanx for your travel-reports!

Adilson

Hello Adilson, you're absolutely right! See what Andreas wrote above:




Best wishes, Fernando