Diary of a Mad Natural Historian

Just as I did last year, I’m going to highlight a few plants that I found particularly interesting.

Dendrobium smilliae – the Bottlebrush Orchid hails from northern Australia and PNG. The flower clusters are amazingly glossy – just a stunner.

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Paph. Salvador Dali – a hybrid, and a wild one. Almost enough hair to wax up a moustache tip.

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Masdevallia ignea – a native of New Grenada according to Curtis’s Botanical Magazine Vol. 98 (1872) – second image ganked from Google books.

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The timer that controls the vivarium lights is set to mimic day length at 15 degrees north. Days have been getting longer and at least one of the orchids is responding – the Maxillaria variabilis. I noticed the bloom in the orchid viv and went looking in the big viv – a blossom there too! Sadly, no activity in the yard; everything is under between 2 inches and 4 feet (we’ve had a lot of wind) of the white stuff.

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“Tree Walkers International is proud to present Microcosm, a celebration of life under glass.  Microcosm is a new kind of event that brings enthusiasts together through the common bond of nurturing life within glass enclosures, from aquaria to vivaria, greenhouses and Wardian cases.

The theme of Microcosm is conservation.  Just as species combine to form healthy, functioning ecosystems, Microcosm seeks to form a coalition of partners who apply their skills in cooperation to safeguard the planet’s biodiversity.

Microcosm is a two-day event that includes field trips, lectures, workshops, and a sale.  All proceeds benefit Tree Walkers International to support amphibian conservation efforts.”

September 3-4, 2010, Lynnwood WA. More info here.

Action packed! Fun filled! Et cetera!

Saturday, off to S’s for a froggers BBQ. His frog room, known variously as the garagemahal, the frog bunker and the frog pit, is looking great. Got to see some Chrome/Sisa Ameerega bassleri among other lovely frogs.

Not a great picture, but a fantastic vivarium. The contrast between the red bromeliad and the yellow/orange/green/black Tarapota imitators was beautiful.

Saturday night some frog folk visiting from afar stayed at my place. We had a nice late dinner in Portsmouth. Luckily the dogs were on their best behavior Sunday morning and didn’t roust everyone at 5 AM (just me) – we’d had a late night; I had Sunday night to catch up on zzzs, but my guests would still be on their whirlwind tour.

Sunday saw us all down at Black Jungle in central Massachusetts for the New England Carnivorous Plant Society’s summer cookout. I scored some nice Nepenthes cuttings and a short conversation with Stewart McPherson!!! I gushed, he grinned and was gracious.

CP guru and fanboy.

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Gorgeous N. hamata someone brought with them.

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P.S. – Gang of Four’s Return the Gift gets two huge thumbs-up from me. I listened to it (at probably an unhealthy volume) on the drive Sunday. The redo of Entertainment! plus the remix CD – yowza. Think I’ll play a couple tracks again and scare the neighbors.

The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Dream of the perfect life

One of my favorite group of carnivorous plants is the epiphytic Utricularia – the section Orchidioides. I have three specimens (still looking for the elusive jamesoniana – if you have any, I have a large division of humboldtii to trade). It struck me the other morning what a nice gradation of shape one sees in the leaves of my three:

U. humboldtii – a pretty fan.

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U. reniformis – the fan is wide open!

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U. nelumbifolia – the edges meet.

(In fact, some nelumbifolia leaves resemble reniformis – see this picture from sarracenia.com.)

And nelumbifolia’s eponym, Nelumbo ‘Chawan Basu’.

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All of the carnivores are loving the summer sun. My Brocchinia reducta are yellowing up nicely

and the Sarracenia alata are making lots of fresh new pitchers.

Lots of carnivorous plant news!

• The description of a new species of Nepenthes from the Phillipines hit the news – it’s called N. attenboroughii (after Sir David) . One of the discoverers wrote the Tepui book I mentioned a while back.

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• Harvard’s Aaron Ellison and UVM’s Nicholas Gotelli are studying the ecosystems that function within sarracenia pitchers.

“You’ve got four or five trophic levels in a pitcher plant, just like you’ve got four or five trophic levels in a lake,” said Ellison.

Fly larvae are the top-level predator in the pitcher, the analogues of terrestrial tigers or wolves. They’re what ecologists call a “keystone” species, who control the abundance every other species, but require a habitat of sufficient size to support those other creatures.

• What’s the more important lure – color or sugar? Looks like color is irrelevant – at least in S. purpurea.

The results suggest that nectar production is the crucial factor in determining prey capture success. Real pitcher plants and pseudo-pitchers trapped nearly identical numbers of prey—357 versus 344 insects, respectively—while pseudo-pitchers without nectar caught far less. Both the real plants and pseudo-pitchers with nectar caught mostly ants. That’s good for the plants, as ants provide a much larger quantity of nitrogen than flies on a per-weight basis. The pseudo-pitchers without nectar caught mostly springtails, a different kind of arthropod.

Most significantly, the proportion of visible red area had no impact on prey capture.

Some pix from yesterday’s blueberry expedition.

It’s early yet.

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Sturgeon Creek.

A quick status check on some of the irons I have in the fire.

• The brackish tank is doing well. I’ve managed to persuade the archerfish to take Arowana Sticks in addition to crickets, so feeding is a lot easier. The scat will eat anything, but loves the sticks too. With summer and increased insolation, I’ve had some trouble with green water (single cell algae free-floating in the water column) – increasing the frequency of water changes has helped and I’m awaiting the delivery of  some Corbicula fluminea. I’m hoping that filter feeders in the tank will consume the last of the free algae. I’m growing out some black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) that Hydrophyte sent me (along with some other aquatic/emergent plants in an awesome care package) – not sure yet how I’m going to integrate the blackies into the brackish tank, but I have time to ponder while the mangroves embiggen.
• Plants in the African stream tank have gotten over transplant shock. All the Anubias are sending out new roots, the Bollbitis are fiddleheading and the Java moss is sending out new growth as well.
• The frog rack is fully populated. I moved my new banded leucs out of their quarantine tank into the middle level viv. They are quite shy; I’m hoping they get bolder as they get used to their new home and as the tank grows in and provides more cover.
• The Mediated Toybee Tile project keeps simmering. Adhesive testing is pretty much done, though we may want to run some additional tests with this stuff (or just use it, give how nicely plain ol’ 5-minute stuff performed). I need to touch base with JY and CT and talk next steps as regards tile fabrication.

Ephemeral project – over and done with – baking with cherries from my little tree.

The new sarracenia from Rarefinds came in safe and sound. After giving them a week and a half to catch thier breath, I repotted them into the mini-bogs they’ll be living in for a while.

Sarracenia catesbaie (natural hybrid of S. flava and S. purpurea)

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Sarracenia rubra

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Sarracenia alata

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And the big bog – S. purpurea and an unknown (hybrid?).

I just caught the male pepperi (they’ve been renamed) dropping the kids off at the pool.

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In other critter news, hydrophyte inspired me to re-do the 29 gallon aquarium in the Design Student’s room. After losing all the inhabitants during the ice storm, I repopulated it with an African butterflyfish (Pantodon buchholzi) and a pair of upside-down cats (Synodontis nigriventis).  I’d seen a beautiful West African setup in Yoshino and Kobayashi’s The Natural Aquarium – combine that with a chapter on ‘The Aerial Advantage’ in Walstad’s Ecology of the Planted Aquarium and all I needed was a glimpse of hydrophyte’s ripariums to precipitate a new approach to the tank. I covered the back wall with plastic needlepoint grid and tied Java moss, Anubias and Bolbitis to it; I’m hoping the moss will expand to cover everything. I took the water level down to 10 inches – approx. the golden ratio point -  and I planted most everything so that it has the opportunity to grow emersed. We’ll see what happens.

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I changed the filter set-up – without the filter change, the lower water level would have been a problem. I had been using an external hang-on-back style filter – I switched to a piece of foam the same size as the side of the aquarium with a small powerhead behind it. You can see the foam on the right side of the picture above.

I also snuck in a juvenile pair of Pelvicachromis sacrimontis – love those dwarf cichlids.

Yesterday was the three year birthday of the blog – I was too busy being a crazy natural historian to post, but thanks to all who have stopped by over the past 3 – it’s been fun (for me, at least).

The latest update is here.

Mike and Richard’s (the Black Jungle guys) bog garden is in full bloom. There’s quite a bit of variation in color, if not in overall structure, among the Sarracenias – aka North American pitcher plants.

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