stewart

Andy has very kindly given me permission to post the following message in case it is of interest to forum members. I have organised three Nepenthes expeditions to take place in 2013. These trips offer intrepid adventures to trek through steaming rainforests to reach remote mountain summits to observe, photograph and experience spectacular Nepenthes plants in the wild. The expeditions are much more than carnivorous plant tours. Each trip is specifically designed so that along the way, you will encounter some of the most spectacular landscapes in South East Asia, as well ethical encounters with local communities to experience native cultures, and of course, a plethora of tropical wildlife. All three tours also raise funds for Ark of Life and Meadowview Biological Research Station. The expeditions will take place over June, July and December 2013. The exact dates can be finalised between participants to find the most mutually convenient dates. The objectives of each trip include the following: Philippines Expedition to explore the spectacular summit of Sibuyan (ascended by a knife edge ridge) to the habitat of N. argentii and N. sibuyanensis, and to Mount Hamiguitan (home to the spectacular N. peltata, N. micramphora and N. hamiguitanensis), a lowland trip to see N. merrilliana, N. truncata and N. bellii, and a climb up Sultan Peak, to see the largest of all Nepenthes of the Philippines; N. palawanensis. Sulawesi Expedition to see the spectacular N. hamata, N. eymae, N. maxima, N. nigra, N. tentaculata, N. tomoriana, N. glabrata and (hopefully) N. pitopangii, as well as the amazing indigenous Torajan cultures. New Guinea Expedition to see N treubiana and spectacular ancient petroglyphs by canoe, giant highland Papuan N. ampullaria and N. insignis, huge N. neoguineensis populations, and N. mirabilis. Possibly with an additional add on of visiting the famous Baliem Valley – home to fascinating Papuan tribes and cultures that have remained unchanged for thousands of years. The expeditions will be amazing adventures, and help to raise funds to safeguard carnivorous plants that are threatened with extinction. If you are interested in joining one of these adventures and would like more information, please email me directly: [email protected] (please email rather than PM) Thanks, and wishing you all a nice weekend Kind regards Stewart McPherson (Here are some photos from the 2012 expeditions to get you in the mood!) N. attenboroughii and Alastair N. edwardsiana N. rajah N.fusca Trekking up Mount Victoria Rafflesia keithii flower N. bicalcarata N. lowii

Hi Phil Green, Thank you for your post and feedback. I do understand your comments, but writing and editing large works is not as simple a task as you seem to appreciate. There may well be a spelling mistake on page 133 and also on page 470, but remember, this is out of 250,000 words and over 1,400 pages (in the case of Sarraceniaceae of North America and Sarraceniaceae of South America). I do employ an editor full time, and send each book for proofing by at least two professional proof readers at a cost of thousands and thousands of pounds per book so that each manuscript is read by several people before going to press. I also personally read through each manuscript at least 3 times. But nevertheless, a typo or other minor mistake does sneak through, as you have publicly pointed out, for example, "putrative". Please try editing through 1,400 pages to produce a flawless result. It is not easy, and mistakes such as a single "r" in a word, will, I suspect, slip pass even your eyes. Especially after reading so many pages three times. Ultimately, I cannot excuse typos and mistakes, and freely admit there are a few in all of the books I have written. But I do reject your quite hurtful claim that the books are "littered" with mistakes. This is not the case. There are 300 pages between the errors you identified on page 133 and page 470, representing perhaps 30,000 words. This is the length of a regular-size book. I certainly cannot excuse an extra "r" in putrative, or other minor issues. But I am only human, and so are all editors and proof readers (as far as I know). The issues which you identified are all certainly very minor, and do not detract from the concept of the titles, which focus on documenting the diversity, ecology and conservation of carnivorous plants. With regards to "rushing". The Sarraceniaceae books took a decade of research on my part, and 40 years on Donald Schnell's part, and an entire year of continuous writing by myself. I delayed publication several times for editing. The reality is though, the economics of printing such a book raises sufficient funds to employ editors for a finite time. I wish it were different, but these titles are very specialised, and unfortunately do not have Harry Potter budgets to employ large teams of editors. You should also remember that, in the case of the Sarraceniaceae books, these involved authors of several countries, speaking multiple languages and dialects (German, UK English and American English), and with many different writing styles. At the end of the day, you are right, and I am wrong. There is the odd spelling mistake in my books. But I have spent thousands and thousands of hours on each title to produce each one to the highest standard I possibly can. Stewart McPherson

Dear Friends, As you may be aware, I have been assisting a non-profit conservation effort to help the protection of the Tepuis - the spectacular "lost worlds" of Venezuela that are home to Heliamphora, and other incredible wildlife, much of which is found no where else on Earth. Part of the project was to produce a non-profit conservation documentary to raise awareness of the incredible diversity of life found atop of Mount Roraima, and to highlight the conservation concerns that afflict this spectacular lost worlds. It is my pleasure to invite you to the world premier of the film in London at the Royal Geographical Society on September 13th, 2011. The event will be hosted by Michael Palin (presenter for many travel documentaries and lead in Monty Python) who is the president of the Royal Geographical Society. Sir David Attenborough has also agreed to attend, if his filming commitments allow. He will be joined by some well known television presenters and personalities who will be amongst the first to view some world exclusive footage of when Jimmy Angel discovered the legendary Angel Falls, amongst incredible material of rare carnivorous plants, spectacular animals and the strangest landscapes on the planet. The project, and the premier are both non-profit making. However, the conservation group behind the project does have to hire the RGS venue, and to cover costs, it is asking just £15.00 per ticket per person – available at http://lostworld.eventbrite.com . V.I.P. tickets, which include a drinks and canapés reception and the opportunity to meet our specially invited guests are priced at £50.00 and can be ordered by calling 0207 609 6775 and quoting 'Lost World'. I really hope to see you at the premier. It will be a night to remember! Kind regards to you all, Stewart McPherson

Dear members of the CPUK forum, I was fortunate to recently spend a week studying Sarracenia in the wild in preparation for a new monograph on the family that I am preparing. The plants were looking stunning, so I thought I would share some of the images with you; Sarracenia alata Sarracenia leucophylla Sarracenia rubra ssp. gulfensis Sarracenia flava var. ornata (at the end of the growing season, with pitchers suffusing red as they die back) Sarracenia psittacina More images are available at my website www.redfernnaturalhistory.com My best regards to you all Stewart

Dear Members of the CPUK forum, Through the hard work of many friends (especially Francois Mey, Thomas Gronemeyer, Andreas Fleischmann, Alastair Robinson), four new Nepenthes species were described in my new books (Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats Vol. 1 & 2), which I would like to introduce here. Two of the plants were discussed here, on the CPUK forum in February shortly after my last trip in Palawan, so many thanks to the many CPUK forum members who responded with observations relation to the association of these two plants to each other, and other Nepenthes. The four new Nepenthes species are; Nepenthes gantungensis (from Mount Gantung in the Philippines). This plant is interesting because it is morphologically very similar to N. mira, although occurs at the opposite end of Palawan from that species. Many morphological characteristics seperate it from N. mira, including the morphology of the pitchers. Much like N. mira, it is known only from a very narrow altitudinal range close to the summit of the only mountain where it is known to occur. Nepenthes hamiguitanensis was found by Volker Heinrich, Thomas Gronemeyer and myself in 2008, although at that time we believed the plant to be a hybrid between N. micramphora and N. peltata. More recent studies conducted by Thomas Gronemeyer and Andreas Wistuba revealed the plant to indeed be stable and reproducing, and even though it is of hybridogenic origin, the vast populations of this plant on Mount Hamiguitan represent a seperate and stable entity from both N. micramphora and N. peltata, and are distinct in many morphological and ecological ways. Nepenthes holdenii was discovered and named by Francois Mey and Jeremy Holden in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia. This plant is really interesting because it is very distinct from all other Nepenthes known from Indochina, and seems more aligned to taxa from other parts of Southeast Asia. Nepenthes palawanensis was found atop of Sultan's Peak in Palawan, and I introduced and discussed it on this forum in February. It is extremely interesting because the pitchers are simply massive - larger than N. attenboroughii, and almost as large as N. rajah. Although extremely closely related to N. attenboroughii, it is morphologically distinct. Interestingly, while N. attenboroughii very rapidly produced upper pitcher, N. attenboroughii appears not to do so at all, and no upper pitchers were observed in the wild at the type locality among hundreds of mature, flowering plants that were observed. Anyway, I hope this follow up is of interest. The full descriptions and alot of images are in my books; Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats Vol. 1 - Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats Vol. 2 - As you may know, I am using the books to raise money for the protection of Sarracenia habitat, and now the total funds raised and donated stands at US $7,500 - so thank you all for helping make this possible! My very best regards to you all, Stewart

Hi CPUK forum members, During my travels in the Philippines, I was fortunate to meet up with Chi'en Lee, and together we climbed a mountain. We encountered an interesting Nepenthes taxon. While it grows no where near N. mira, it definitely seems most closely related to that species. I just returned today from this expedition, and am about to start a comparative study of this taxon with N. mira to establish how the two plants differ, if indeed, they are significantly and consistently distinct. I thought I would share some photos in case you may assist in comparing this new taxon - N. sp. G - with your cultivated N. mira plants. Currently N. mira is known only from Cleopatra's Needle - a small peak in northern Palawan. The plant grows only on the very top of the mountain, and we still have relatively little idea of the full diversity of that species - especially since it most likely occurs on other (unexplored) peaks nearby. So any thoughts regarding how the plant below compares to your N. mira plants would be appreciated. Please feel free to contact me directly here - Contact Cheers Stew

Dear members of the CPUK forum, I thought I would share some other photos. Nepenthes philippinensis is normally not very colourful. I hae seen about 12 populations across Palawan - the island where is mainly (possibly exclusively) occurs. Usually the lower traps are just a bit reddish, and the uppers are green or yellowish. This week, Chien and I encountered a really spectacular population with stunning blood red lower pitchers which reach really impressive sizes (see photos below). All characteristics are more or less consistent with N. philippinensis, so this population seems to just represent an interesting group of colour variants, but nevertheless, very nice plants. Hope you like the photos! Stew

Dear members of the CPUK forum, I am currently in the Philippines and just returned from two spectacular peaks in Palawan. On the summits of these mountains, I encountered two new Nepenthes species. Here is the first - a truly spectacular plant and one of the biggest in the genus. I found this plant growing atop of a remote mountain - Sultan's Peak - near Mount Victoria where N. attenboroughii grows. This plant - which will be called Nepenthes palawanensis ined., is even larger than Nepenthes attenboroughii and really gives N. rajah a run for its money. I have posted a video clip of me putting my entire hand inside one of the giant pitchers on my website N. palawanensis video I spent the last week organising permits to legally collect a herbarium specimen to desposit at Palawan State University. This magnificent new species will be formally described in my next books, Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats. The description will be in the appendix in vol. 2 of the work. Acquiring all of the permits, permission and authorization was difficult, but it is a joint effort working with many botanists from the Philippines, and as with N. attenboroughii, all of the specimens will stay in the Philippines for local botanists to study, which is really important. This find really shows what magnificent flora there is on Palawan, and the need for conservation efforts. In other news, I was really glad to hear that the recent media interest in N. attenboroughii has led to the protection of the Victoria Range. even though the newspapers exaggerated the plant quite a bit, this led to the entire mountain complex being given local protected states, and a Nickel mine was closed and stopped from destroying the lower slopes of the mountain. Which is GREAT. Hopefully the same can happen for Nepenthes palawanensis ined. and its home, the Sultan range. I am working hard with friends in Palawan to try and pull together a UN World Heritage status proposal. Anyway, here are some photos of Nepenthes palawanensis ined., and also N. attenboroughii to compare. The two plants are extremely closely related, but there are significant, tangible and consistent morphological differences in the leaf structure, flower structure, pitcher morphology and size, amongst many other differences. Also the exterior of the pitcher of N. palawanensis is lined with short, brown hairs. Here is the first - Nepenthes palawanensis ined. Nepenthes palawanensis ined. Nepenthes palawanensis ined. Nepenthes palawanensis ined. Nepenthes palawanensis ined. Also a video N. palawanensis video And to compare Nepenthes attenboroughii Nepenthes attenboroughii Nepenthes attenboroughii Hope you like the pics! Stew www.redfernnaturalhistory.com

Hi Jonathan, I am sorry that I neglected to send you free copies of my recent works on Nepenthes. I did promise this, and have overlooked it (I sent out about 50 copies to everyone that helped complete the work, and sorry I missed you out). My sincere apologiies, could you please pm me your postal address, and I will send you copies immediately. Chi'ens description of the species has been published. Although I have not yet seen it or recieved the final PDF of the paper yet. As soon as I do, I will send this to you as well. Again, I am sorry for this mistake, but will rectify it! Best regards to you and all on the CPUK forum Stew

Dear members of the CPUK forum, I thought I would post a few photos of some little known Nepenthes from the Phillippines! I recently traveled to Mindanao to study N. copelandii and N. surigaoensis with Volker Heinrich and Thomas Gronemeyer to look at the following species! I especially wanted to study N. copelandii and N surigaoensis to examine as to whether these two species are distinct from N. alata and N. merriliana. After seeing these plants I feel that both are distinct as all populations I encountered displayed many stable, but significant differences in the leaf, pitcher and flower morphology and so can easily be distinguished in the field Hope you like the photos, I uploaded lots more at http://www.redfernnaturalhistory.com/gallery My very best regards to you all, Stew PS Sorry - no seed of these ones! Nepenthes surigaoensis Nepenthes surigaoensis Nepenthes surigaoensis Nepenthes surigaoensis Nepenthes surigaoensis Nepenthes peltata Nepenthes peltata Nepenthes peltata Nepenthes peltata Nepenthes peltata Nepenthes copelandii Nepenthes copelandii Nepenthes copelandii Nepenthes copelandii Nepenthes mira Nepenthes mira Nepenthes mira

Glad you liked the pics! > Not just a case of shouldn't be introduced, it > is actually illegal to introduce ANY non-native > species (plant or animal) into the wild in this > country. Absolutely right - I completely agree with you Phil. As beautiful as Sarracenia are, really they can get out of control and should not be introduced. > Did the powers that be weedkiller all the purps > at that site,when i was down in 2000 i'm sure > you both said they'd killed them all. Did they > miss some or have they regrown from seed? Yep the large plants were sprayed. This was four years ago or so. There were seven massive clumps that evidently had grown there for quite some time. These were sprayed and were killed stone dead. But there were small plants that were missed (hundreds) and also countless seeds lying dormant in the soil. That is the explanation for the plants I photographed recently. I went back 4 years ago and saw the dead clumps. The rest were very small. Obviously the population has grown rapidly since and flowered prolifically as there are many seedlings now too. This bog is extremely isolated, so this population will never come to dominate the south of England, but still it shows how these plants should stay in the greenhouse and not be naturalized. I am very happy to share the location if anyone wants to go and see it for theirselves (please just email me). It is sadly ironic how here we have too many Sarracenia in this small wetland while at the same time so much habitat is being destroyed in North America. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a permit could be acquired to sent these plants to help reclaim and re-establish boglands in Canada? To actively help with repopulating wild stocks. I guess though the permits would be extremely difficult. And there is the question of mixing gene pools. But it would be a nice idea at least in theory - any thoughts from anyone? Anyway my very best regards to you all Stewart