Travel log Crete by Tony Avent

[Pascal B]

For those interested in the flora of Crete you can read a travel log with many interesting pictures of a trip made by 2 fellow planthunters I know well:

http://www.plantdelights.com/Tony/crete.php

As always Tony's travel logs are humorous and very tempting to go there yourself. Not to mention the additional comments about food.....

PS. For those interested in Dracunculus, some pictures will be an eye-opener showing that what is in cultivation sometimes is a poor representation of the actual variation within a species.

[Maggi Young]

That will be an interesting read, Pascal, thanks for the link.
I see that one of Tony avent's companions was Tom of Evolution Plants, a Forumist!

[Pascal B]

Maybe I shouldn't have been the one pointing out Tony's travel log then..... 

The other travel companion is Alan Galloway, he has been responsible for finding the majority of recently described new Amorphophallus and Typhonium species including several of the pocket size Amorphophallus that don't get taller than 10-15 cm. Somehow he always seems to get hurt during a trip though....

[Maggi Young]

The other travel companion is Alan Galloway, he has been responsible for finding the majority of recently described new Amorphophallus and Typhonium species including several of the pocket size Amorphophallus that don't get taller than 10-15 cm. Somehow he always seems to get hurt during a trip though....

That's bad news... one could believe that the giant Dracs could be man- eaters but it would take a massed attack for the little guys, wouldn't it? 

[Oron Peri]

All very nice and fantastic photos,
I just wonder if it was necessary to cut all these Dracunculus flowers and picking up that huge marvelous plant, probably 10-15 years old...

[Pascal B]

Maggi, plant hunters only have eye for the plants....., it is a bad habit that always is a recipe for disaster...

During a fielftrip with Alan I slipped too from a slope not watching where I was walking. I ended up with a plant in one hand, my camera in the other and the rest of my body in between giant nettles.... But I was happy because of what I had in my hand ....

[Pascal B]

All very nice and fantastic photos,
I just wonder if it was necessary to cut all these Dracunculus flowers and picking up that huge marvelous plant, probably 10-15 years old...

Oron, always a tricky subject with pro's and con's. What worries me more is that entire populations have gone in between 2004 and now as mentioned in the log. I have found that often the locals are the worst thread to wild populations. For us they are treasures, for them they are weeds and are less important than "developement".... Sad but true. I have studied Arisaema in S India and most of the original habitat is replaced by tea plantations. One year I saw several of the very rare Arisaema sarracenioides growing in a private forest, the next year all the undergrowth was cut because they were competing with coffea that was planted  during that year. Another example, I once found a magnificent 2 meter tall Arisaema tortuosum cut down next to the path in Sikkim. Why? They were poisenous for the cattle of the locals, the oxalates in Arisaema give cows diarrhea. Could have been a very old plant, could have been a polyploid worth cultivating.

Also do remember that many of the cultivars we grow were direct wild selections, sometimes single plants in a big population that just stood out. Still it was taken from that population for cultivation and everyone wants to grow it without realising its origin.

For a flower comparison they could also have made a compilation with individual pix, that is true. But people from Kew make these single picture comparisons too because it works best, same light so the best possible colour comparison and all in the same picture. Look at the articles in The Garden of the RHS, same thing, a single picture comparison that says it all.

[cohan]

All very nice and fantastic photos,
I just wonder if it was necessary to cut all these Dracunculus flowers and picking up that huge marvelous plant, probably 10-15 years old...

Oron, always a tricky subject with pro's and con's. What worries me more is that entire populations have gone in between 2004 and now as mentioned in the log. I have found that often the locals are the worst thread to wild populations. For us they are treasures, for them they are weeds and are less important than "developement".... Sad but true. I have studied Arisaema in S India and most of the original habitat is replaced by tea plantations. One year I saw several of the very rare Arisaema sarracenioides growing in a private forest, the next year all the undergrowth was cut because they were competing with coffea that was planted  during that year. Another example, I once found a magnificent 2 meter tall Arisaema tortuosum cut down next to the path in Sikkim. Why? They were poisenous for the cattle of the locals, the oxalates in Arisaema give cows diarrhea. Could have been a very old plant, could have been a polyploid worth cultivating.

Also do remember that many of the cultivars we grow were direct wild selections, sometimes single plants in a big population that just stood out. Still it was taken from that population for cultivation and everyone wants to grow it without realising its origin.

For a flower comparison they could also have made a compilation with individual pix, that is true. But people from Kew make these single picture comparisons too because it works best, same light so the best possible colour comparison and all in the same picture. Look at the articles in The Garden of the RHS, same thing, a single picture comparison that says it all.

a reminder that conservation must be made relevant to locals to be successful; along this line, i find it very stupid that several native plants in alberta are on the weed lists (there are several categories of severity) because they are poisonous to livestock; ridiculous! (limiting it in your pasture is understandable, trying to remove it from a region is foolish)..