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Post by Flytrap on Apr 1, 2006 18:34:47 GMT -5
Folks ... News from the CP world shaking everyone in their boots. A new CP Genus discovered. Here's a partial piece from the UK post this morning: Several weeks ago I was contacted by the project leader for botanical assessments from the team of scientists that were exploring the "Lost World" area of New Guinea. She wanted to know about carnivory in the Pedaliaceae. I told her that the only plant in this family even remotely considered being carnivorous is Ibicella lutea, which until relatively recently was considered to be in the family Martyniaceae. We discussed the matter in several emails (and one rather expensive phonecall!) until she finally came clean with me that they have discovered what appears to be a remarkable and novel form of carnivory, apparently in an as-yet-undescribed genus.
What makes this so interesting (for me, at least) is that while the plants (apparently) use mucilage to digest the prey, the mucus on the leaves is not used to retain prey. Instead, the plant is covered with many short silicaceous hairs that are extremely minutely barbed. This is not a flypaper plant so much as a pincushion plant! It's not clear if this plant preferentially preys upon soft-bodied organisms or what. photo:tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/temp/species234a.jpg and Barry Rice writes:www.terraforums.com/ib312/ikonboard.cgi?s=c29528f718b7d030fc8c5df9615b2f43;act=ST;f=14;t=23752;st=0
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Post by mabudon on Apr 1, 2006 21:20:57 GMT -5
Still hoping that the "harthingy plant" (tho I would call it "Iron Maiden Plant" if I had dibs) is a whacky relative tying Byblis and Pinguicula together, that would rock.. the pics of it are pretty sweet looking, and the whole 35 seconds sto totaly curl up nocturnal carnivory thing is REALLY interesting, what a monster this new plant truly is
EDIT the autocensor got my reference to tha weapon they use on whales (rhymes with lampoon)
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Post by mabudon on Apr 3, 2006 9:28:26 GMT -5
BTW if you read the rest of the thread at PFT, it was an april fools joke, made believable with the stamp of Barry Rice, darn it all
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Post by Flytrap on Apr 3, 2006 11:20:30 GMT -5
Yes ... that Barry is such a card :-) This is the third or so time it's been pulled ... nice to see that we've all got a good sense of humour.
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