Chile 2015

Habitat, nursery/collection and show tours.
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DaveW
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Re: Chile 2015

Post by DaveW »

The commonest and probably the Thelocephala longest in general cultivation. Some slight variation in the length of spination in the population.
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It is obvious from the variation of spine length within the population, as in the image below, that names like T. napina v. spinosior are superfluous.
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Re: Chile 2015

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Some plants do suffer a bit in habitat.
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Re: Chile 2015

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The next day we found a Neoporteria atroviridis form. The plants more in shade were greener than those in exposed situations in the open.
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DaveW
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Re: Chile 2015

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I understand Dot likes to see wild flowers? Unfortunately I did not see that many different ones to photograph. However this one was interesting because I thought I had found a pitcher plant, but in desert conditions. That was a puzzle since I thought they only grew in wetter climates.

Anyway looking it up later it turned out to be a False Pitcher Plant = Aristolochia chilensis. Unlike true pitcher plants it does not consume insects but imprisons them for a time whilst they are dusted with pollen from above and then let loose later by the downward pointing hairs on the tube degenerating and allowing the insect to crawl out and pollinate another plant. Evidently "once bitten twice shy" does not apply to insects since they evidently make the same mistake of getting trapped again to pollinate another plant.

See:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristolochia_chilensis
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This was the local lizard found around there, you only tend to notice them when they move.
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Dot
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Re: Chile 2015

Post by Dot »

Hello Dave,

I have enjoyed looking at Aristolochia chilenesis, and had look at it on the Wikipedia link. Apparently it has boomerang shaped leaves, the leaves on the picture are quite curved but maybe because things are dry.
Thank you for posting pictures of wild flowers, I have also really enjoyed seeing your cactus pictures too with excellent photography.

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DaveW
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Re: Chile 2015

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I have not managed to name these two Dot. Afraid the pictures often loose a little sharpness in the image compression to fit the board unless you click on them to enlarge them.
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Afraid all the small Opuntia's in the sites I visited looked very similar to me.
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Re: Chile 2015

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Yes boomerang shaped leaves seems a rather fanciful description of them Dot. At best they are slightly crescent shaped. See pictures of leaves at the bottom of this link:-

http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/ ... EH0472.htm

Their description of it being insectivorous is wrong, it is simply insect pollinated.

Paul Klaassen published a picture of the yellow flowered form in one of his books on his Chilean trips. That form evidently comes from Quebrada Donkey. We were going to visit El Donkey but Roger could not find the turn-off even though he had been before, because they were improving the main road with Armco barriers along the sides plus other improvements and had evidently temporarily removed the road signs for the turn-off. He found it easily the next year when the signs were back.

There is a tremendous amount of road improvements and new roads going off in Northern Chile now for the increased transport from the mines and vinyards. The problem now can be it is hard to get off some of them since the Armco barriers are like fences all along the road where previously you just drove off the road at almost any point to get to habitats.

The yellow flowered form:-

http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/ ... EH1200.htm
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Re: Chile 2015

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When visiting habitat you need a bit of luck regarding flowers. Luckily this population of Neoporteria heinrichiana had quite a few in flower. N. heinrichiana was also known in the past as Neochilenia jussieui and Karel Knize's Neochilenia subikii nom nud also is part of it's range. However for once Backeberg's name heinrichiana is the valid one. The flowers in the population were various shades of yellow and reddish striped.
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Body colour can vary too according to amount of exposure to strong sun, this one was greener than most.
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Re: Chile 2015

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Out of flower Neoporteria simulans can be mistaken for the Copiapoa it grows along with, hence the name simulans = imitating. However it is easy if flowers or dead flowers are present (as in the picture below) since the flower has bristles on the flower tube and though the Copiapoa has a woolly crown the flower tube is naked.
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I think this is N. simulans, though most have a reddish flower, but yellow flowered ones are known as I illustrated one earlier in the trip.
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Re: Chile 2015

Post by Dot »

Dave,

the flower with white petals and yellow markings may be an alstromeria - not sure what the next one is,

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