last flowers of the season

[nadja77]

This years SA national barefoot water skiing championships were hosted in Swaziland over the weekend.

Unfortunately the water was too choppy so we did not get to see much action. Disappointing as I was looking forward to see how they get up in the water without skies.

But lucky for me I did find something else to keep me busy.

Near the waters edge was a small seepage which inhabited four or five different species of cp's. Since winter is on its way over here I was quite pleased to find some last flowers of the season.

Some of these plants were completely submerged in the sludge but did not seem to mind.

G.hispidula

I think this is U.scandes - please correct me if I'm wrong

These photos were taken some weeks ago. This valley has an abundance of carnivorous plants as well as orchids and tree ferns among others.

Pine valley:

U.arenaria

U.livida?

I walked right into its web...

I have only found this plant in one location so far. Sorry for the blurry photo - they are quite small!

U.appendiculata

As I nearly reached the top of the mountain my shoe decided that enough was enough. The hike back was interesting to say the least

And lastly some pics of a tiny suspended aquatic utricularia - barley 5mm accross, I could not find any info with regards to the Id, does anyone know what it is?

I hope you enjoy the pics!

Nadja

Edited April 26, 2010 by nadja77

[kisscool_38]

Really nice, mainly the Genlisea hispidula.

I don't know what is the last Utri but it is really interesting, I'd also like to know its name.

Edited February 21, 2018 by kisscool_38

[An D Smith]

Amazing pics Nadja. I would love to see some of the tree fern you mention, I wonder if it is a Cyathea or a Dicksonia. Very interesting aquatic Utric in the last pics, I'm sure Andreas Fleischmann, as soon as he returns from Brazil, will have something to say on the matter!

Thanks for showing

Andy

[Zlatokrt]

Really interesting pics, thank you for sharing. I am also curious about the ID of the last utric.

Adam

[nadja77]

Thanks for the comments!

We'll have to wait for the Utric experts out there to pass a verdict then.

Unfortunately I did not take any pics of the tree ferns - not as interesting as the CP's I guess

There is a mountain in one of our game reserves (Malolotja) which inhabits a cycad forest.

I have been wanting to take a trip there for a while, but since the hike would take several days I have not had the time yet.

I'll definitely take some pics of them and other plants when I get there.

Regards

Nadja

[agamemnon]

Hi,

realy very interesting pictures of U. apendiculata. The white flowering aquatic species of Utricularia seems to belong Utricularia cymbantha - realy unique picture. Thanks for sharing.

Edited April 27, 2010 by agamemnon

[Daniel O.]

Nice plant and really great landscape pictures.

Really interesting Utricularia you have found there.

Thanks for sharing.

Best regards,

Dani

[nadja77]

Thanks Dani, it is a nice place, photos don't really capture it.

Martin thanks for the ID. This plant certainly makes up for its small flower size by spreading out all along the ponds edges.

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Hello Nadja,

Thanks so much for the exotic pics!! Let me see if I can help you ID all these plants.

The 1st Drosera looks like it's maybe D.natalensis or D.dielsiana. I think you have to see the seeds to tell them apart. Then you've IDed G.hispidula and what seems to be U.scandens.

But the following 2 Drosera pics are a little confusing for me. It looks like D.collinsiae. But it's soooo.... RED! And is it my impression or are they growing in open & exposed habitats? The ones I saw in the Magaliesberg Mts were in a shaded little canyon, very green in color.

Then there's a pic of D.dielsiana/ natalensis again, followed by what you've apparently correctly IDed as U.arenaria. The leaves in the following pic, hmmm... yeah, possibly U.livida. Not sure. But then comes the most interesting pic of all for me: U.appendiculata. I'd never seen pics of this species before, it was a 1st, very exciting!

As for the aquatic Utric, yes that's U.cymbantha. Congrats on finding this tiny Utric!!! Andreas F. & I saw this one in Zambia, growing on a floating matt of "muck" together with D.madagascariensis, U.prehensilis and G.glandulosissima (see 1st 3 pics in this link: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?s...&hl=zambia). But looking around on CPUK, I can't find any pics of it, so I believe we never posted ours pics here. Well, better late than never I guess, right? :) Here you go...

Thanks for all the cool pics,

Fernando Rivadavia

Edited April 30, 2010 by Fernando Rivadavia

[alexa]

What a beautiful country you live in, thanks for posting these great photo's.

Alex.

[Nicole]

Hello,

very interesting pictures! I've never seen U. appendiculata and U. cymbantha!!! Congrats!

Many regards,

Nicole

[nadja77]

Fernando,

Thanks for your extensive post!

There were some questions on whether the Drosera in the photos are either D.natalensis or D.dielsiana.

I think so far D.natalensis has not been found in Swaziland yet. The general consensus seemed to veer rather towards D.dielsiana.

But then it is difficult to tell from pictures alone as you say.

Funny you should mention the coloration of D.collinsiae. I noticed the same when I was taking the photos.

these two plants were growing right next to each other in open velt, more or less covered by grass.

very interesting to see such variation.

The U.arenaria was actually IDed by Andreas Fleischmann, he kindly helped out with some of the ID's.

As mentioned before, I have not found U.appendiculata in any other location. I think it was pure luck that I would come across this tiny plant.

U.cymbantha is a very interesting species. So far I have only found one other aquatic Utricularia to compare it too. This one grows in smaller patches rather than the largish carpets of U.cymbantha.

I have not inspected the pond closer yet to see if there were any other Cp's growing nearby like the ones you have found.

Thanks for those pics! I would love to see some photos of U.prehensilis and G.glandulosissima, do you have any from this trip?

very interesting pictures! I've never seen U. appendiculata and U. cymbantha!!! Congrats!

Thanks! I am sure you will get to see some great Utricularia on your trip next year!

What a beautiful country you live in, thanks for posting these great photo's.

I do consider myself luck

Nadja

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Thanks for the extra pics Nadja! That sure does look like D.collinsiae. Do you have habitat shots? Did you get any seed from the D.natalensis/ dielsiana plant? If I remember well, D.dielsiana have ovoid seeds and 3 styles branched only at the base, whereas D.natalensis has fusiform seeds with styles branching again near the apex.

Andreas (or I?) posted pics of G.glandulosissima, U.prehensilis & others in a few reports of CPs in Zambia here in the "In Habitat" room.

Thanks again,

Fernando Rivadavia

[jimscott]

Thanks for sharing!

[nadja77]

Thanks for the extra pics Nadja! That sure does look like D.collinsiae. Do you have habitat shots? Did you get any seed from the D.natalensis/ dielsiana plant? If I remember well, D.dielsiana have ovoid seeds and 3 styles branched only at the base, whereas D.natalensis has fusiform seeds with styles branching again near the apex.

I did get seed from them, but I did not pay attention to the shape. The only thing that I did noticed was that D.collinsiae seeds are larger then those of the other species'.

I also remember that D.collinsiae has a short inflorescence , but these plants seemed to have quite a long flower stem in comparison .

This is where I found the plants, sorry the first pic is a bit unclear as it is far away.

the two plants were not growing as exposed as the ones in the photo but rather in the thicker grass.

Great photos of G.glandulosissima BTW, It looks like it was a great trip!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

Nadja

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Thanks again Nadja!

The habitat is VERY different from the one where we saw D.collinsiae, interesting to know it grows in suxhopen spots as well.

Best wishes,

Fernando

[Martin Hingst]

Very interesting, Nadja - and nice pics of some rarely seen Utricularia!

Thanks for sharing

Martin

[Andreas Fleischmann]

Hello Nadja,

Thanks for posting these beautiful photographs! And thank you Andy Smith, for pointing out this thread to me. It seems that I've missed a lot of interesting topics recently ;).

I second all of Fernando's IDs, except one little change: your "U. scandens" in fact is U. prehensilis. And the Drosera on photos 2 and 3 are of course D. burkeana, not D. collinsiae. Note the very thin and almost glabrous petioles (photo 3) and the semi-aquatic habitat, both typical for this species.

Your finding of U. cymbantha in Swaziland is interesting, however not totally out of the range of this species. At what altitude did you find this tropical plant? In case you found seed of this species, please try to sow them immedeatly! This species has VERY short lived seed, even for aquatic Utricularia. For me, this minute plant has proven to be one of the most difficult aquatics to grow. In contrast to its natural habitat, it seems to dislike the company of any algae in cultivation.

D. collinsiae and its close sister, D. nidiformis, are getting really puzzling to me the more specimens from different locations I study. Both seem to form integrades, either with each other, or or more likely with members of the D. natalensis-complex. D. collinsiae 'Fairyland' is one of these strange examples. The lenght and base of the inflorescence is a valuable character to tell them all apart. But I have soon given up to use colouration or lamina shape as a tool to do so...

However your plants certainly belong to the "true" D. collinsiae (they have the typical hair cover on the petiole).

Please keep us updated with your interesting reports from Swaziland,

All the best,

Andreas

Edited May 6, 2010 by Andreas Fleischmann

[nadja77]

Andreas,

Thanks for the IDs!

U.cymbantha was found at an altitude of 1200m and as you say amongst a 'matt' of algae.

It will be interesting to see if I will be able to grow it from seed. Good to know about its viability.

If you get puzzled with plant ID's then surly there is no hope for the rest of us?

Regards

Nadja

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Hello Andreas!

>I second all of Fernando's IDs, except one little change: your "U. scandens" in fact is U. prehensilis.

Ah! I thought you had IDed it for Nadja and I certainly didn't intend to question you there! :)

>And the Drosera on photos 2 and 3 are of course D. burkeana, not D. collinsiae. Note the very thin and almost glabrous petioles (photo 3) and the semi-aquatic habitat, both typical for this species.

Are you sure? The lamina shape doesn't look quite right... Couldn't it be a very wet natalensis or dielsiana?

Fernando

[Andreas Fleischmann]

Hey Fernando,

Are you sure? The lamina shape doesn't look quite right... Couldn't it be a very wet natalensis or dielsiana?

Even if D. natalensis or dielsiana are grown submerged, their petiole does never get that thin and narrow, and the leaves keep their more or less cuneate/spathulate shape.

If you compared with some of the photos of D. burkeana we found in Zambia (or the very dry grwoing specimen near Pretoria), you may notice that the rotundate/spathulate lamina actually fits quite well.

The only other plant in question would be a very wet growing D. collinsiae. However in this species, the scape would not be glandular, which is clearly the case in the plants pictured here (visible in photo number 3).

All the best,

Andreas