Martin Hingst

Well done Ada! I found alpina always to be very difficult in photography. Nice plant, nice shot!

Pretty plants John! I would expect Heliamphora to be extremely difficult in AUS, at least without extra cooling. Good job :)

Welcome Gusmou :-)

Thanks Ivo - really impressive results with your Raynox. I would have expected an elusive photo flash setup at least. Regards Martin

Thanks again :) I think you'll need both - permits and some small change. While you can get the former with the latter ;) Part III this weekend, hopefully. Regards Martin

Hello, still not to be seen that often, so I'd like to share some pics of my newest addition here. Really a gem in my collection, though tiny - here in my Pinguicula bowl. Compaired to immaculata even the small species like esseriana or ehlersiae look quite big. The white ehlersiae is at its best at the moment, so worth another shot: Said to be a tricky beast, I am curiuos how immaculata will stand the conditions in my bowl among the others without extra care. Here an overview - hope you like it Martin

Thanks :-) well, the political situation in Venezuela doesn't make me too optimistic, at least for the near future. But noone really knows...

Hi Dieter, great plant - hope to see it in bloom tomorrow :-) and to your Firefox problem: there is a good solution named Google Chrome. As standard browser for all needs. I suppose, the Firefox era is over.

Thanks :-) part II is about to follow. Brocchinia were so plenty, it was difficult to walk around without stepping on them ;-) Same was true for Heliamphora at some spots. Really crazy. Regards Martin

Here some pics of our first day on Amuri. Planning the day ( here: Andy, Andreas, Stew und Ch'ien) Not only our first day on this mountain, but also my first steps on a tepui at all. Everything was new - and so exciting. My first D. roraimae - couldn't get enough of it. U. amethystina: D. arenicola: and the Pretty Heliamphora - H. pulchella: Of course a highlight. For me the most beautiful of all Heliamphora species. Here a closeup (some more will follow in Part III) There were also many wonderful non-carnivorous plants. Little wonders just everywhere. A Gesneriaceae?: Maguireothamnus speciosus: Stegolepis ligulata with its blue iridescent leaves. Never seen something like that before. Especially beautiful were these plant islands, here with Brocchinia, Drosera, Utricularia and Xyris. In the background once again an iridescent Stegolepis ;-) And at the end of the day, my first U. quelchii in the wild: Very pinkish, in contrast to the red ones on Roraima. I am quite sure in between that there is a correlation of colour and altitude (esp. because of min. temperature and UV radiation). The higher we came in the next weeks, the less pink and the more red the quelchii were. What a great day, that I will never forget. In the evening, back at the camp and enjoying the sundown on Amuri. Some day I will have to go back there... Regards Martin Part I Part II Part III Part IV

Hi, didn't post my Amuri pics of our 2009 expedition here yet (or just a few here and there). Some of the Heliamphora we found were about to publish, so the field trip report had to wait. And if you don't do it immediately... then just later on Like my Ptari Thread, this will be a series. Here Part I - heading for Amuri. The evening before: San Francisco (de Yuruani ;-) The crew is getting a bit impatient ;-) The next morning - flight over Gran Sabana: A first little tepui: Chimanta massif (of which Amuri is part of). Adankasima and Katuran Tepui: Our destination on Amuri: Getting off - quickly! This taxi meter is running fast... and straight into the Heliamphora Exploring this unknown and fascinating world: And our camp. Perfect basis for some great trip the next three days. Regards Martin Part I Part II Part III Part IV

Great pics Ivo! How did you take these pictures?

Very nice pictures! Well, the valle de los cristales contains mostly of quartz, that is a mineral that will have the least effect to the soil, in mineral content. Except the fact that iron will be low in such soils. I am quite sure in between that low night temps in combination with high UV radiation play a major role. Both factors go along with altitude.

Thats a good way too Carl, esp. for keeping the traffic in the forum low, for those who are fine with the smaller version. BTW - really a great plant :-)

I think the first part of this URL is not needed Carl. I just put the URL from https... up to .jpg that I get by right click into the flickr image and "show" (in desired size - flickr gives you several size options) via the image button here. So the image will open here in the forum:

No problems here - I just let Flickr generate an URL in whatever picture size I like and insert this via the Image button

Hi Carl, yes, as they are emitting a continuous spectrum, there is more IR in it than in the LED with their narrow spectrum. But it is just this continuum, that makes the metal halide light looking so nice and natural (at least the ceramic bulbs with a CRI of Ra>90. But what has also an effect: any light that reaches the inside, will cause some amount of heat. As these lights focus very well, there will be quite some heat caused by that. But thats what I want - get as much light in there as possible ;-) Thanks Vincent - and yes, that is exactly what happened to mine when the light was low. Luckily, this changes again as soon as the light level is up again. Leave surface is less than half as big now, and tendrils are short again. And short internodial distance again, just as it should be :-)

Hi Carl, yes there are two different ampullaria in there, a "speckled" and a "tricolor". Both show this compact growth now, what I thought was perhaps a feature of the speckled plant. It is not ;-) just plenty of light, and both (and I would guess most other amps as well) stay compact. I am not too afraid of the heat. Anyway, any lamp with the same energy efficiancy will produce the same amount of heat. No matter if LED, or cfl, or metal halide. So the metal halide lamps produce even less heat than cfl or LED because of their high efficiancy. The heat is just more concentrated because of the compact bulbs. But I will place it outside, so I see no problems there. We'll see if I am right ;-)

Hello, here a last pic taken in March. The good thing: the amps stay still compact (at least in height), comparable big pitchers on small leaves - just the way I like it. What was somehow new to me, that this would be true not only for my speckled one, but also for the tricolor (that grew bigger in the old tank). So it is clear now to me, that compactness can be acheived by a high light level - and is not only specific to the clone. What has to be changed now - the ventrinermis has to leave, and has to take two amps with it to make more room for this tank here. I already bought a tank for it, higher of course (40cm), and to aceive a good compact growth despite the more height, I will now try a new lighting setup: my first metal halide lighting in a mini tank. Let's see what happens :-)

One question came to my mind when searching vor Cephalotus there: why do they only grow at that little spot? I searched for hours, in the other spots close around there was few to nothing. One explanation could be: that is the area that experiences the most changes. Land breaks offregularly, leaving open, fresh ground. There maybe be other reasons for sure. Good to hear that John!

Just my thoughts Steve. How about back to topic friends? Information by John is too valuable for messing around with it like that. Even though it is sad to loose a great site... Cephalotus is a pioneer plant (though not 100% correct maybe) so, it relies on disturbed areas, thats where it can play out its real skills. When I was at CMB I got the impression, that the higher vegetation was already too established to leave ground for Cephalotus. Many Cephalotus were overgrown, and therefore looked already weaken. The healthiest plants were those growing in the open, disturbed and grass-free areas. So, it is Cephalotus' fortune that areas change.

Interesting thread John! Even if the future of CMB looks darkgrey at the moment...made me quite sad.

From your pics above, nothing speaks against striatula. I wouldn't hesitate to label it under that name.

Thanks for the flower pic - that looks definitely like a species within sect. Phyllaria. That means: U. striatula. Or a close relative - but as far as I know, besides U. striatula there are no Phyllaria species described for Tanzania. So if it is not striatula, then it is a new one.

Hi Johann, reminds me on U. heterochroma somehow- though there should be no relatedness between a Central Am and an East Af plant... But not only the morphology, but also the habitat sounds similar. I guess it has some kind of organs with which it sticks to the rocks?