Friday
18th June 2004, 14:15 - 15:00
Recent observations on the genus Heliamphora (Sarraceniaceae)
and its distribution in Venezuela and Brazil
Andreas Wistuba • Mudauer Ring 227
• 68259 Mannheim • Germany, Thomas Carow • Am Mustergarten 1 • 97702 Münnerstadt
• Germany, Peter Harbarth • Frankenweg
18 • 69221 Dossenheim • Germany
Over the last years we had the opportunity
to visit many of the remote table mountains of the Venezuelan
south, the so-called ‘Tepuis’ and other mountains in Venezuela
and Brazil that are home of the genus Heliamphora.
During these visits we made several interesting findings including
new Heliamphora species and could also gain
a better understanding of the species already known and their
distribution.
The genus Heliamphora is one of three genera of the family Sarraceniaceae. Currently Heliamphora consists of nine species generally
accepted and more await publication.
Most species of Heliamphora are growing on the flat tops of a group of remote and
isolated table-mountains 2500 to 3000 m high with almost
vertical walls, so-called Tepuis. These sandstone mountains
are located in the Guayana Highlands of Venezuela near the
Borders to Brazil and Guayana.
Many of the Tepuis have just been explored
in recent years, some not at all so far. Due to isolation,
a lot of endemic plants and animals, among them the different
species of the genus Heliamphora, could evolve on their plateaus.
Over the last years we had the opportunity
to visit several of the remote Venezuelan Tepuis and study
the species of Heliamphora
growing on top, on the foothills and on the faces of these
strange and ancient mountains.
We visited the four table mountains
of the Aparaman-group
(Aparaman Tepui, Murosipan Tepui, Tereke-Yuren
Tepui and Kamarkaiwaran
Tepui), the Chimanta
Massif, Kukenam Tepui, Roraima Tepui, Ilu Tepui, Aprada
Tepui, Tramen Tepui, Juruani Tepui, Ptari Tepui and the extremely remote mountains Cerro Neblina, Cerro Duida, Cerro Marahuaka and Cerro Huachamacare.
As results
of these expeditions, so far three new species of Heliamphora have been published. During a recent expedition we attempted to find
out more about the distribution of the genus Heliamphora between the well known northern habitats within the Gran
Sabana and the southern Mountains, such as Cerro Neblina, Cerro Marahuaka,
Huachamacare Tepui
and Cerro Duida.
A few large plateaus with three of them reaching or exceeding
1700 m altitude (the Meseta de Jaua - 2200 m, the Sarisarinama Jidi - 2500 m
and Guanacoco Jidi – 1700 m)
are located in between the two known distribution ranges of
Heliamphora. We made several attempts in
these areas to locate Heliamphora
but were not successful. As we visited different peaks and
found many habitats that seemed suitable for Heliamphora
we conclude that Heliamphora
does not grow in these areas, at least not in habitats that
seem typical based on our knowledge of the populations known
so far. This is very interesting as it leaves the question
how the two known distribution ranges are related.
Literature
George, U. (1988) Inseln in der
Zeit, GEO im Verlag Gruner + Jahr AG & Co., Hamburg.
Maguire, B. (1978) Sarraceniaceae (Heliamphora),
in: The Botany of the Guyana Highland Part-X, Memoirs of the
New York Botanical Garden, 29: 36-61.
Nerz J. and Wistuba A. (2000) Heliamphora hispida (Sarraceniaceae),
a new species from Cerro Neblina, Brazil-Venezuela, Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, 29:
37-41.
Steyermark, J.A. (1984) Venezuelan Guyana, Annals of
the Missouri Botanical Garden, 71: 302-312.
Steyermark, J.A. (1986) Expedition to the Lost World, Annals
of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 74
(7): 5-7.
Wistuba, A., Harbarth,
P. and Carow, T. (2001) Heliamphora folliculata, a New Species
of Heliamphora (Sarraceniaceae)
from the ‘Los Testigos’ Table Mountains in the South of Venezuela,
Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, 30:120-125.
Wistuba, A., Carow, T. and Harbarth, P. (2002)
Heliamphora chimantensis,
a new species of Heliamphora
(Sarraceniaceae) from the 'Macizo de Chimanta' in the South
of Venezuela, Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, 31:
78-82
Friday
18th June 2004, 15:00 - 15:30
Carnivorous Plant Expedition in Venezuela and general plant protection
and conservation
Drs. Ing. Gert Hoogenstrijd, Amsterdam, Holland, www.extreme-plants.nl, info@extreme-plants.nl
The genus Heliamphora belong the oldest and most
simple carnivorous plants. They are found with Genlisea, Drosera, and Utricularia in South America where they
grow in areas such as sabana’s, mountains and specially at
table Mountains The presentation will show a summary of various
expedition to the Gran Sabana area, western Sabana’s of Venezuela
and table mountains like Duida, Roraima, Ilu, Tramen, Wei
and Huachamacare. These enormously tall table mountains often
have very steep rock walls up to 3000 metres high.
They form a strong
contrast with the tropical Amazon forest underneath. The local
inhabitants named them Tepuis ‘Houses of the Gods’. These
mountains are left over from the Stone Age and every mountain
has its own unique and particular flora and fauna. The species
such as the Heliamphora
heterodoxa, H. ionasi,
H. tatei, H. minor and H. nutans occur
only in these mountains. Here they grow in little swamps or
in between other plants. In this environment the plants enjoy
a moderate temperature, a high degree of humidity and a large
intensity of sunlight. Eight different species have been discovered
and described thus far. Due to the inaccessibility to these
areas there has not been a lot of research done yet. Due to
this, it is highly possible that even more unknown species
exist in this area, especially at the non-accessible slopes.
All species have the same horn-like shape. The plants all
have frail yellow-green or green pitchers with traces of red.
Deforestation, geographical
monopolization of land for agricultural use, more roads, urbanization,
pollution, global warming and drought are just a few of the
reasons that carnivorous plants are threatened by or already
suffer from extinction. The Venus Fly Trap and some of the
American and Tropical Pitcher Plants in particular suffer
from the threat of extinction. Endangered plants worldwide
include the Sarracenia
such as the white and yellow Trumpet Pitcher, the Venus Fly
Trap, some nepenthes species.
Ways to protect these
fragile environments will be discussed as well as the possibilities
for sustainable or eco-tourism or plant breeding systems that
are income generating for local habitants
Sometimes collecting
of plants in the wild by individuals can form a real threat
to a species. This is mainly the case concerning a few very
rare and spectacular tropical carnivorous plants. These plants
have a limited way in which their seeds are spread and taking
away these plants or their seeds will threaten their existence.
A good example from a couple of years ago is that of the largest
tropical pitcher plant, Nepenthes
rajah. This collector’s dream has a pitcher catcher with
an eighteen-centimetre diameter. This highly rare plant can
sell for hundreds of euros. Even the moderate enthusiast was
prepared to pay a high price for this plant. Luckily the plant
is now cultivated from tissue culture. Now any enthusiast can purchase one for a reasonable price. For
the well-intended plant collector who does not want to inflict
any damage on nature there are, in short, choices enough to
choose from thanks to tissue culture.
The fascinating life
cycle of carnivorous plants can also be observed from your
living room. Many different species are sold all over the
world however, only a small percentage of these species are
sold in the Netherlands. The plants are offered year-
round. The largest
supply in the Netherlands is offered from March – October.
Dutch nurseries comprise 1.5 million of the plants that are
sold yearly to consumers around the world. For years, a wide
assortment of species such as the Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea), North American and Tropical Pitcher
Plant (Sarracenia
and Nepenthes), Sundew (Drosera), different Butterworts (Pinguicula) and Bladderworts (Utricularia)
have been cultivated. By in large, the plants are cultivated
from seed or tissue culture in greenhouses that provide an
optimal surrounding. Plants are also cultivated by division
or transplanting. These methods are used for only a small
amount of special plants such as the Bladderwort (Utricularia sandersonii, U.
calycifida and U.
livida), the Butterworts (Pinguicula
gypsicola, P. primuliflora
and P. moranensis) as well as the Cobra Lily (Darlingtonia carlifornica).
Gert Hoogenstrijd was born in the Netherlands
in 1967. He started to grow
carnivorous plants when he was 16 as both a hobby and
passion. For him cultivation of carnivorous plants began on
the windowsill, but since the age of 18 has branched out onto
his balcony and in greenhouses. He has a master’s degree in
Energy and Environmental Science with specialisation in Biology.
The many different places in which he has lived and worked
as a energy and environmental specialist for developing countries
and conducted research include countries in Asia, Africa and
Latin America. In his free time, carnivorous plants often
provide the inspiration to explore unbeaten paths in search
of new plants, such as for instance the Table Mountains of
South America. At the moment he is working as a specialist
on topics as “nature and health” and “sustainable Tourism
for the The Advisory Council for Research on Spatial planning,
Nature and the Environment (RMNO). This council gives advise
to the government of The Netherlands on research into problems
in a specific sector of society. He is the author of the Carniflora
booklet in both Dutch and English (www.extreme-plants.nl).
Gert Hoogenstrijd was a board member of the Dutch Carnivorous
plants group ‘Carnivora’, for 14 years.
Friday 18th June 2004, 15:30 - 16:00
A functional description
approach of the summit biotopes (> 2000 m) of Auyan-Tepui
(Venezuela)
Philippe
NAMOUR,
Association Dionée, Jardin Botanique de Lyon, Parc de la Tête
d’Or, namour@lyon.cemagref.fr
We propose
to describe the top of Auyan-Tepui (> 2000 m), according
to three nested logics (Fig. 1).
First a logic of form, made up of the geomorphological
factors on which is articulated a logic of matter & energy
fluxes. From the nesting
of these two logics (form & fluxes) we define four functional
units (UF), unitary biotopes sheltering a standard flora of
Auyan-Tepui:
UF1: summit terrace;
UF2: percolating
wall;
UF3: sand bank;
UF4: shallow.
Fluxes
and stability order in an increasing way are supposed to be
as follows:
Matter flux from
UF1 to UF4;
Energy flux from
UF4, UF2, UF3 to UF1;
Constancy &
stability UF1, UF3, UF2 to UF4.
This approach functional has immediate implication on our culture conditions
of the carnivorous plants from the Tepuis.
Fig. 1: Conceptual approach of Auyan Tepui organization
in three nested logics