COOP’s post and Flickrset caused me to dig out my (very) old box of Matchboxes, Corgis, etc. I took one set of photos, but the sun isn’t above the big pine tree in the back yard yet – I don’t have any fancy flash equipment – so I’m going to start over in an hour or two. The pictures will be uploaded here; in the meantime, something to prime the pump:
I like carnivorous plants. There’s the man-bites-dog aspect, of course, but there are also all the interesting adaptations that make bug (and frog and mouse and…) eating possible. I grow a few different types – I’ve never had any luck with the canonical carnivore: the Venus Flytrap, but I do have pitcher plants (Nepenthes, Sarracenia and Heliamphora), sundews, pings (butterworts), and utrics (bladderworts).
Heliamphora have a special place in my heart – blame it on George Edward Challenger. I read The Lost World as a kid; a little later when my family was living outside Pittsburgh, PA – I was about ten – the Carnegie Museum or the Pittsburgh Zoological Society (or somebody in Pittsburgh – I can’t find any references on the web) sent an expedition to Auyantepui that got a lot of coverage in the local paper. One of the pictures that sticks in my mind to this day was of a scientist and an enormous clump of helis. For those of you who don’t know from tepuis, click here – they are fascinating mesas in southern Venezuela – sky islands isolated from each other by distance and from the surrounding Gran Sabana by altitude/climate.
With all that as background, a few weeks ago my largest heli, H. neblinae, started sending up an odd looking spike.
*
I wasn’t sure what it was – flower spike? Keiki (though I’d never heard of Heliamphora keiki-ing)? I posted a query on a carnivorous plant forum and found out that it was, indeed a flower spike. I suppose I could have waited a week and found out for myself; here’s what happened:
*
*
Notice the very pitcher-like top on the flower scale/sheath – is this a cool plant, or what?
While trying to find some reference to the Pittsburgh expedition, I ran across this:
It was Im Thurns accounts that also attracted British mountaineers Hamish MacInnes, Joe Brown, Don Whillans and Mo Anthonie to Mount Roraima in 1967. They wanted to climb the mountain by a new route and chose ‘the prow’ located at the northern end of the plateau that juts into Guyana. MacInnes’s account can be read in his book Climb to the Lost World. *
Hmm – interlibrary loan time…
Many things to post about (sub-prime mortgage mess, backing up PCs, dogs), but not much time. I did want to get this one out there though, just because it’s so much fun.
I had a birthday this past weekend. The daughter and her boyfriend took me out to dinner; I chose The Friendly Toast – a local alt.food establishment – big plates of food, ridiculous decor, and, as far as I’m concerned, comfortable.
*
There were presents, oh, were there presents. Wrapped in brown paper and tied with brown wool – it makes me smile just thinking of it.
*
Two nice books (Gorey and Airstreams) and two toys. Did you know that koalas, penguins and seals used to prey on cetaceans? True! The cuddly ones almost drove narwhals into extinction – something narwhals have not forgotten. Thus The Avenging Narwhal Play Set:
*
Four interchangeable magic tusks! Three adorable animals to impale!
*
Thanks J – the Tusked Avenger is on a shelf in my office using the crystal tooth on a koala.
The daughter gave me some temporary tattoos suitable for the elderly. I’ll post a picture when I apply one – I think the first up will be a snake coiling around one of those pill organizers with compartments for each day of the week.
I just put up a page on some tuning I’ve been doing to the large vivarium. To see it, click here or go to the Pages section in the right margin. I’m liking the results – if the plants agree, woo-hoo!