Some Madeira Island flora

[Jo]

Here are a few summer on the levadas pics, an orchid for ident and a hiding spider    What a beautiful place Madeira is, even if the safety rails are a bit scarey 

[Ezeiza]

Hi Mike:

           Many thanks for the great pictures. This species is seldom seen. The foliage looks like Merwilla (Scilla) natalensis and little that of the other Scillas.

            I envy your optimism: 150 years!!! The way things are going climate wise I hope we will see the coming 15 years.

             Here in South America species disappear year after year and as we are writing these messages, several Hippeastrums, for instance, may be vanishing to Bulb Heaven.


Best regards
Alberto

             

[Michael]

Hi Jo

Here are a few summer on the levadas pics, an orchid for ident

The orchid is Dactylorhiza foliosa, that grows mostly in the laurel forest. An odd thing to think about, as geophytes are typical of deciduous woodlands, and not of evergreen dark forests, as these are usually too dark for them. But still, it grows there, in open places or even vertical walls.

... and a hiding spider   

Well that spider is also very interesting. It's Misumena nigromaculata, another endemic spider species that only occurs in Madeira.
It is typical to find them on top of yellow flowers such as Sonchus or Tolpis, wich is the case!

Just as title of curiosity, There are 4 Misumena species on Europe

M. bicolor
M. nigromaculata
M. spinifera
M. vatia.

Misumena vatia is widespread all over the continental mainland, but the other 3 species only occurs in islands: M. bicolor is endemic to Corsica (France), M. nigromaculata from Madeira and M. spinifera from Macaronesia (Madeira and Canary Islands).

By the way, wich levada is this one Jo?


Hello Alberto!

           Many thanks for the great pictures. This species is seldom seen. The foliage looks like Merwilla (Scilla) natalensis and little that of the other Scillas.

Yes, you are right, this plant has some distinct features. That's why some want to segregate it from Scilla and put it in the Autonoe genus.
Actually in the latest plant checklist of Madeira, it already appears classified as Autonoe maderensis.

            I envy your optimism: 150 years!!! The way things are going climate wise I hope we will see the coming 15 years. 
             Here in South America species disappear year after year and as we are writing these messages, several Hippeastrums, for instance, may be vanishing to Bulb Heaven.

A sad true
That always reminds me of the Griffinia genus. According to what i red, it seems that some species are already gone, and gone forever!!
 
I am doing my best to avoid the loss of more species here in my island, and also by growing threatned plants from all over the world. But i guess this will only delay for a while the inevitable.
If the habitat is lost, the species is likely doomed. How can we protect a lion without a savannah? In a zoo?
And then, when the lion is gone, the entire ecosystem might collapse...

[Carlo]

Thanks for the I.D. on the spider. It's related to members of the same genus here, commonly referred to as "Crab Spiders" or "Flower Spiders".

[Ezeiza]

Hi:

    Yes, Griffinias, Pamianthe and others are gone due to habitat destruction but in Hippeastrum a major destructuve force has been the commercial demmand from amateur to obtain "pretty flowers".

    As I write now, each healthy Hippeastrum specimen is invaluable to keep the species going. And as I write this, there is people paying high prices for these species Hippeastrum to cross them and obtain hybrids.

     Obviously, gardening education is failing if we can not persuade such people to dedicate every effort to keep these rare species going. There are enough thousands of "pretty flowers" around to waste this invaluable rarest genetic pool in producing more.

     If the habitat is gone and a new alternative habitat is eventually found, we need the species alive anyway. If we lose the species now that it is so scarce, what will be the use of the recovered habitat


Best
Alberto

[Michael]

Thanks for the I.D. on the spider. It's related to members of the same genus here, commonly referred to as "Crab Spiders" or "Flower Spiders".

Though i had never seen them capturing prey, i wonder how they manage (if they ever do) to capture the bigger flower pollinators such as male bumble bees, without a spider web. 


So Alberto, Pamianthe is gone in the wild too?   I didnt knew that. I think I have a small plant of it, but untill it flowers i cannot be 100% sure. But it looks a lot like Pamianthe...

As regarding Hippeastrum, they should use the hybrids to keep going the hybridisation program, and not the species. In my humble opinion, i think they cannot improve that much in means of flower size, colour tone and shape.

To my likings, not even the most brightest hybrid can be compared to the beauty of things such as H. cybister's shape, H. papilio's pattern or H. blossfeldiae's colour!

By the way, wichs species are the most critical Alberto?

[Ezeiza]

Pamianthe habitat has been gone for many years. All the stock in cultivation is all there is.

Pamianthe is an epiphytic plant, to be grown in fibre rather than with soil in a pot. Its habitat was humid subtropical jungles and the plants grew on the forks of trees.

There is an article by Dr. Harold Koopowitz of University of California in Herbertia in which he explains the technical problems in the preservation of Amaryllidaceae. To summarize the conclusions are pesimistic.

The most endangered species seems to be traubi, vittatum, escobaruriae, lapasensis, brasilianum, but every species must be regarded as scarce and endangered minly because of agriculture and forest destruction.

As for H. papilio, which is so popular, in Holland they have cleaned stock from virus and this is a "super papilio".

Regards

[Michael]

I always found Pamianthe interesting. It's the only Amaryllidaceous plant i know that has a strategy analogous to things such as orchids or bromeliads, by living on trees, and the seeds being dispersed by the wind.

Attached are 2 pictures of my plant. Never flowered, but still waiting patiently for that day! I still think it's not enought big yet...

[Ezeiza]

The plant look healthy and robust. Sometimes epiphytic plants refuse to grow erect and adopt a drooping habit. Pamianthes grow erect tho. Next time you repot give it a tray instead of a pot.

There are other Hippeastrums that are naturally epiphytic: aulicum and calyptratum. Both can also be grown in pots with mix as the other species.

Another epiphyte, an incredible rarity, was Hippeastrum arboricolum, a single clump of which was found in the 70s when all the surrounding forests were razed. Apparently it was in the affinity of Hippeastrum striatum. The clump was sold to people in the States to obtain hybrids but all failed to grow it well and it became extinct shortly after. The whole region has been devoid of its forests for decades but there is an image so all future generations can enjoy it.

[cohan]

     Obviously, gardening education is failing if we can not persuade such people to dedicate every effort to keep these rare species going. There are enough thousands of "pretty flowers" around to waste this invaluable rarest genetic pool in producing more.

     If the habitat is gone and a new alternative habitat is eventually found, we need the species alive anyway. If we lose the species now that it is so scarce, what will be the use of the recovered habitat
Best
Alberto

first, thanks to michael and others for the photos of madeira, a place i know little about--a little more, now!

alberto--i agree--one of the several reasons that i am not generally interested in hybrids ;i'm no purist, i do buy things i see locally with no names, no guarantee of purity, but i wont spend my time/money getting plants by mail or from specialists that are hybrids--nature has given us so many 10's of thousands of species--i couldnt possibly grow them all!
where in south america are you? certainly there are few south americans (some high mountain or deep patagonian species being only MAYBE  exceptions) i could grow outdoors here, but certainly i have lots of south american cacti indoors, with interests in others--epiphytes etc

[Ezeiza]

Hi:

    We are 35 km SW of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Airport. "By" in airport scale, of course!

     But, people in cold climates never stop surprising me with the perfect Sotuh African and South American specimens they come up with!. What I found particularly amazing is how they compensate for the lack of light.


best

[cohan]

Hi: We are 35 km SW of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Airport. "By" in airport scale, of course!
But, people in cold climates never stop surprising me with the perfect Sotuh African and South American specimens they come up with!. What I found particularly amazing is how they compensate for the lack of light.
best

thanks, alberto--
well, most of the south americans i grow are summer growing(including some cacti from your country), so we have plenty of light then; they are dormant in winter when our days are very short;
i will yet see what happens as i get more winter growing south africans--right now i have shade in mid-winter due to too many trees in the wrong place--i hope to gradually change that; however, i expect i will cheat with some--some additional lighting in midwinter will be easy enough for the type of miniature plants that i like...

[Ezeiza]

Hi:

    First year SEEDLINGS of most winter growing South African plants tolerate lack of direct sunshine very well. No doubt an adaptation to germinating amidst large surrouding vegetation. From then on they demand direct sunlght. Under good conditions most flower during their season of growth. If temperatures are low, or light insufficient, they will take many years to reach maturity.

[Michael]

Alberto,  here is a picture of Scilla maderensis bulb.

[Ezeiza]

Hi Michael:

               Many thanks, the bulbs are amazingly similar to those of Scilla cilicica!