I was informed recently, you can get your masters degree in botany in the Philippines. If I wasn't already considering how I could possibly, ever, afford to go back to school (for a CRNA to be an anesthetist, 1st choice) this would be another choice for furthering my education. You know, just for fun. There are worse ways to spend fifty grand than on education, right?
Anyway, a friend sent me this video in an email of Nepenthes close to the summit of Mt. Trus Madi, the same day I learned that I did in fact, want to go to the Philippines to study plants. I'm sure this is not a coincidence. A quick trip to Borneo wouldn't be out of the question if I was going to school in that part of the world. However, there's also the fact that a week trip would cost less than a masters degree. Less long term value, but only maybe.
Or maybe I've just been spending too much time inside buildings lately. I never took a chance to go explore any of the native CP's and orchids in NY or the surrounding states. I missed an opportunity to go exploring with my mom and brother while he was visiting, (they went to one of the state parks here,) due to work. Florida has quite a few native and naturalized species of orchids, bromeliads, and carnivorous plants. Sarracenia leucophylla grows naturally in the panhandle, five other species of Sarracenia in other parts of Florida, not to mention all the different orchids, bromeliads, and other plant oddities.
I think a local field trip might be in order before it gets too hot to want to. Start adventures on a smaller scale, then work up to the more difficult (costlier) ones. Looks like a lot of the orchid's peak flowering season is in June, but I'm thinking I won't wait that long. I'll take along the camera. May not be quite the view that Mt. Trus Madi offers, but it's interesting in it's own way, including being right in my backyard.
Very seriously, if you're wanting to go exploring for carnivores in the Florida panhandle, head straight to Tallahassee and prepare to spend a few days in Appalachicola National Forest. Not only does the National Forest sport most of available species of Sarracenia, but it's rotten with sundews, butterworts, bladderworts, and even a population of flytraps. Nobody's sure if those flytraps were deliberately planted by someone in the past, if they were an accidental introduction, or if they're part of a relict population (after all, most of the prime flytrap habitat in North America wasn't underneath the Atlantic during the last ice age), but I'm itching to find out.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the information! It would be a trip for me, probably only worth it if I could take a few days to go. Appalachicola is on the list of things to do then.
DeleteI had read somewhere about that population of flytraps, but mostly pointing to a person planting them, (on purpose or accidental, we'll never know,) but it's interesting to see them doing well so far south. It would be nicer if they grew there naturally, just because that means a larger natural wild population. Either way, it's more of a chance for our children's children to see them in nature someday. It's not as if they're an invasive species we should be concerned with yet, but then again it is Florida and introduced species have a tendency to do too well here!
Pretty amazing, did he say 35 degrees? Seems hot and humid...or wet. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I couldn't quite hear the temp, at that elevation it's warm days and cool nights. Also not sure what time it was, but if it was 35 C, that's an unusually hot day for the top of a mountain?
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