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Genlisea nebulicola


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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:

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The Casca d`Anta waterfall.

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Getting closer

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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.

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With the hand as a scale, so you can have an idea of how small the plants are

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As you can see, the very short flower scapes bear really few flowers

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The first flower I found wasn’t opened yet…

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All other flowers I found were completely enveloped by water droplets due to the constant spray from the waterfall

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A plant with fruits

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Of the really few flowering plants, this one was certainly the most photogenic!

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A really nice photograph of this beautiful plant!

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nebulicola” means “adhered to clouds”, and I think that this photograph show quite well why we chose this name for this species!

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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!

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Congratulations once again, Paulo.

That´s really a very nice new species and the location is also very interesting with this very beautiful waterfall.

And of course i like the landscape pictures as well.

Many thanks for showing these pictures.

Best regards,

Daniel

P.S.: Hopefully your camera survived this trip.

Edited by Daniel O.
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Fantastic pics as usual, Paulo! ;) Yes, all the information you brought back from that trip in March was crucial for the description of G.nebulicola. Hopefully you can return to this area in the near future and explore for new populations of this rare species (as well as G.violacea too), so we can better understand subgenus Tayloria... Don't forget the growing season starts soon! ;)

Thanks,

Fernando

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Hi Paulo,

Really nice set of pictures. Yes one question regarding their natural habit: as the flowers seem to be always embedded in a water droplet, how can they be pollinated? Did you observed any insect or arthropod on the flowers? Or maybe not all the flowers are under such wet conditions, or are allowed to dry in the afternoon?

Edited by kisscool_38
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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,

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I agree, auto-pollinization seems more likely. The spray and wind were also incredibly strong when I was there several years ago. I and my camera were soaked.

Fernando

Wow, it could be endemic to that water fall...

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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,

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Congratulatiosn Paulo, it's a really beauty!

... 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" ...
.

In the same river?

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