Paulo Minatel

Hi there! Last week I went to the Serra do Ibitipoca, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. These highlands are home of four Drosera species (D. montana, D. tomentosa, D. communis, and the magnificent D. villosa) and also several species of Utricularia and some of Genlisea, which I couldn't found with flowers as it is the beginning of the winter down here and most species flowers during spring and summer. Some photos: Drosera communis Drosera montana Drosera villosa Drosera villosa and Utricularia reniformis Drosera tomentosa var. glabrata You can check all the photos here: https://www.facebook...70251137&type=1 All the best,

Fantastic photos and plants, Dieter! May I ask what is these red rocks you use as media? Is it laterite? The plants seem to appreciate it! They are splendid! All the Best,

Hi Aymeric, The D. graminifolia "Nortensis" are the D. spiralis plants from the northern range of this species, around the towns of Grão Mogol to Itacambira. This paragraph of the paper deals with this "morphotype": All the best,

Hi there, A new article on Brazilian Drosera taxonomy just got published: Gonella, P.M., Rivadavia, F. & Sano, P.T. (2012) Re-establishment of Drosera spiralis (Droseraceae), and a new circumscription of D. graminifolia. Phytotaxa 75: 43-57. http://www.mapress.c...p00075p057f.pdf Here the abstract of the paper: "Drosera graminifolia and D. spiralis have long been considered conspecific, but new morphological and ecological data support the recognition of these taxa as distinct species. Both species are here described and illustrated, including observations on ecology, habitat, and conservation status, together with a distribution map, line drawings, photographs, and a table containing the distinctive characters." Here are the answers for those who ever asked themselves about the differences between Drosera graminifolia and D. spiralis (as you can see in the article, there are many)! Here you can see a brief illustrated guide, showing the main differences between both species: https://www.facebook...70251137&type=1 And here, one of the figures of the article, illustrating Drosera graminifolia: In case you want the pdf of the article, just PM me sending your email address! All the best!

In a new article really soon! Cheers,

Hi Dani, Beautiful plant you have there! But some features you showed are not that uncommon! D. spiralis quite often have small leaves along the scape (with stipules and everything), and the tentacles on the sepals is a common characteristic of this species (one of the several that distinguishes it from true D. graminifolia). Here some photos: BUT, fused leaves and lateral shoots are not that common! In our last trip to Minas Gerais we found lots of mutant plants, including some very nice ones with the sepals completely transformed into "normal" leaves! Here some photos by Adilson: Cheers,

Hi there! Here some new photos of this species taken by a botanist colleague from Brazil (incl. a plant with two open flowers at the same time): http://www.plantsystematics.org/cgi-bin/dol/dol_terminal.pl?taxon_name=Drosera_quartzicola&rank=binomial Worth checking out! All the Best,

Adam & Peter, thanks for the comments! Indeed the landscape from Serra da Canastra is breathtaking! Such a lovely place! Dave - in fact we know of another population of this species distant about 25 km of this one that is growing on a "dripping moss-covered vertical sandstone wall". Unfortunately we have only photos of those plants. I hope I can go there soon to check if they are really G. nebulicola. All the Best,

Hi guys, Thanks for the nice comments! :) Dani - yes! Fortunately my camera survived, even after taking that bath! Fernando - for sure! The Serra da Canastra is so close to home (ok, not that close, but much closer than several other CP habitats we had been to) and there's so much to explore. Hopefully I'll be there again soon! ;) Aymeric - that's a good question that we also did ourselves. At the time I was there, I've seen no insect close to the plants. In fact I think it would be impossible to an insect small enough to be the pollinator of this species to get close to those plants, since the wind and spray from the waterfall is so strong that even for myself was a challenge to reach the plants! Also, it's quite unlike that the Casca d'Anta waterfall become so dry in some moment of the year that the spray stops enveloping the flowers in a water droplet - it's a huge waterfall with lots of water. But I've never been there during the high of the dry season, so I cannot be sure. But as you can see I found some fruit at the time I was there which, I believe, were result of auto-pollination. I also observed fruits in my cultivated plants being produced without hand pollination, so it's certainly possible (which is interesting, since it's a quite rare event in the other species of subgenus Tayloria, which all need to be hand pollinated in cultivation). So, those plants may rely mainly (if not only) on auto-pollination, in my opinion. All the Best,

Hi Dani & Aymeric! Thanks for the comments! :) I really hope this species will become common in cultivation soon, since it's so rare in nature! All the Best,

Hi there! I just posted photos of the fifth new species, Genlisea nebulicola, both in the habitat and in cultivation: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44561 - habitat http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44562&pid=310400&st=0entry310400 - cultivation All the Best,

Hello all, Some photos of this species in cultivation! It seems to be a very easy grower, flowering constantly. For habitat shots, please look at the “Carnivorous Plants in Habitat” forum! All the Best, Paulo

So, before leaving the Serra da Canastra, some other beauties of that region: For photos of this plant in cultivation, please look at the “Carnivorous Plants in Cultivation” forum! ;) I hope you enjoyed it! All the Best, Paulo

Hello all, As you must have seen in this fantastic report by Andreas - http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44386 - five new Genlisea species from Brazil had just been described by Andreas Fleischmann, Fernando Rivadavia and myself. One of this new species is the rare Genlisea nebulicola, a small species endemic to the Serra da Canastra region in Minas Gerais State, SE Brazil. This species was first discovered by a friend of Fernando, and, before March of this year this species had been collected for herbarium only once by Fernando in 1999. As we had only that "old" material to study and describe this species, a new trip to that region was necessary so we could have more material for the species' description. So, by the end of March I went on a trip to Serra da Canastra to collect new material and try to find new populations of this rare taxon. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any new population, but only the one already known. So here are the first digital photos of this unique plant! :) The plants grow at the base of one of the highest waterfalls in Brazil, the Casca d`Anta waterfall with 186 m high. It is possible to see and hear the waterfall even several km away: The Casca d`Anta waterfall. Getting closer Growing between mosses over the rocks close to the waterfall I found some rosettes – there it was! The rare Genlisea nebulicola! Take pictures of these plants was a real challenge since the spray from the waterfall was so strong that the lens of my camera was constantly wet! The spray is so strong that nothing grows on the side of the rocks that faces the waterfall, but only on the other side. With the hand as a scale, so you can have an idea of how small the plants are As you can see, the very short flower scapes bear really few flowers The first flower I found wasn’t opened yet… All other flowers I found were completely enveloped by water droplets due to the constant spray from the waterfall A plant with fruits Of the really few flowering plants, this one was certainly the most photogenic! A really nice photograph of this beautiful plant! “nebulicola” means “adhered to clouds”, and I think that this photograph show quite well why we chose this name for this species! Finally, a general view of the rocks ate the base of the Casca d’Anta waterfall. As soon as I turned the camera toward the waterfall to take this picture, the lens got completely wet!

Hi Adam, Do you have any picture of what you call 'typical G. pygmaea'? I ask because there's a lot of confusion regarding the ID of G. pygmaea and closely related taxa - mostly new species that were misidentified as G. pygmaea in the past. It is possible that your plant is a closely related species from Brazil (not yet described) that shares several morphological characteristics with G. pygmaea, but is much more robust (that could explain the different genome sizes). What's the size of the flower? Best Regards, Paulo