Mexypedium Re-discovery (Habitat Pics)

[Kavanaru]

Unfortunatelly for most Slippertalk members, the article is in spanish.... however there are some habitat photos, which I think would be interesting for most of you in the forum...

a summary:

Mexypedium discovered (1988 - description 1990) and know from only one locality, which is kept "secret" at the AMO (Bot Garden). Only seven plants seen at this expedition. One plant and a division of a second were extracted, and "all" known plant in culture are originated from these plants.

Later on, an aficionado collected two more plants from this population. Not known what has happened wiuth these two plants.

1996, G. Salazar discovered two more plants at the same locality. Giving then ONLY 6 plants known in the wild (7 - 1 - 2 + 2 = 6 ) By this time only adult plants are known in the wild.

1998, a fire destroyed most of the known habitat of Mexypedium and only one plant is known to have survived. Apparently, this only plant has not bloomed since then.

2009, several new plants (at least 6 different genotypes) were discovered during an expedition to the region. As well as the plants previously known, these new plants also grow on vertical limestones walls (pictures shown in article). This is the first time a plant blooming in August in the wild is registered.

enjoy:

http://www.jardinbotanicolankester.org/lankesteriana/Lankesteriana 9(3) 2009/31 Perez-Garcia.pdf

 

[SlipperKing]

Nice Ramon. Thanks for posting, the PICs help with a better understanding for the culture.

 

[likespaphs]

super cool!
thanks!
(and thank you google translation...)

 

[goldenrose]

Nice Ramon. Thanks for posting, the PICs help with a better understanding for the culture.

so true and the need to keep the plants that we have in cultivation to survive & better yet thrive!

 

[biothanasis]

thank you very much for the info Ramon! There is still hope

 

[Rick]

Wow That is cool. I'll need to find a local translator.

Given the amount of moss, ferns, and other green leafy foliage its surprising they call this plant xeric. It looks like a lot of the karst areas here in Tennessee. I think I saw a rainfall number for the Mexican habitat that was similar to TN also ( about 36 to 48 inches per year). Obviously it gets colder here in TN.

I can see why mine grows the way it does with rambling aerial keikis.

That plant is apparently very rare. I better try to breed it the next time it blooms.

 

[ohio-guy]

I had no idea so few wild plants had been known from the initial discovery, and that population is obviously at risk! It makes it that much more important I suppose to keep viable populations in cultivation.
It is interesting to think we can get a start of what seems to be a very rare plant, as it is offered from time to time.
Thanks for the information.

 

[smartie2000]

....yes understanding the cultivation would be helpful. My plant has been too slow for me (but I haven't killed it yet)

 

[cnycharles]

cool. how do you get google to translate a pdf?

 

[Kavanaru]

Wow That is cool. I'll need to find a local translator.

Given the amount of moss, ferns, and other green leafy foliage its surprising they call this plant xeric.

what happens is that this is a microclima in teh middle of an apparently very xerophitic area... I think this also contribute to the species being rare, as they live in very small "reservoirs" (similar to those species living only in the Oasis in the Sahara...

 

[likespaphs]

cool. how do you get google to translate a pdf?

http://translate.google.com/#
it asks you to put the url or paste text....

 

[Rick]

what happens is that this is a microclima in teh middle of an apparently very xerophitic area... I think this also contribute to the species being rare, as they live in very small "reservoirs" (similar to those species living only in the Oasis in the Sahara...

I suspect you are correct. Unfortunately I think too many people killed their plants by trying to keep them too dry (to match the name).

 

[Kavanaru]

http://translate.google.com/#
it asks you to put the url or paste text....

cool! did not know this one

 

[NYEric]

Wow, my computer wont open the blocked pge.

 

[cnycharles]

http://translate.google.com/#
it asks you to put the url or paste text....

thank you very much!

 

[SlipperFan]

Thanks, Ramón. Am I seeing correctly -- they are growing on rocks?

 

[NYEric]

So frustrated!

 

[cnycharles]

here's a link to the translated text (without pictures)
http://translate.google.com/transla...9(3)%202009/31%20Perez-Garcia.pdf&sl=es&tl=en

I also made a copy of the pdf and uploaded it here hopefully you can download it from this link (spanish with site pictures)
http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/mexi-site-info.pdf

 

[gonewild]

I wonder based on this part....

"In the original expedition Search for this species in 1988 were only found seven clusters of plants that probably represent different genotypes."

Did they only find 7 individual plants or did they separate 7 groups or populations of plants that they believed to be genetically unique?

Also they say that the plants were not there after the fire but it sounds like they do not know if the plants died in the fire or were already poached. If poached then the genetics still may exist somewhere.

 

[Kavanaru]

I wonder based on this part....

"In the original expedition Search for this species in 1988 were only found seven clusters of plants that probably represent different genotypes."

Did they only find 7 individual plants or did they separate 7 groups or populations of plants that they believed to be genetically unique?

Also they say that the plants were not there after the fire but it sounds like they do not know if the plants died in the fire or were already poached. If poached then the genetics still may exist somewhere.

they report 7 "individual" plants (they speak about clusters, as each "individual" plant is represented by the "mother" plants and all the stoloniferours extensions of the it. Similar to having one plant grown into an speciemen with many keikis). They collected one complete cluster and a piece of another one, in other words, they collected one plant and a division of a second, leaving 6 (of the 7) plants in the wild.

It is only known of two plants which were collected after the first expedition. The other 3 missing plants, could indeed have been collected, but looks more porbably they were destryoed by the fire. Even the only plant that survived, was severely affected by the fire. Important is that before the fire they were there, and after the fire they were not there anymore. If someone collected them but they are in private collections, which are not declared as wild collected, I think they are not (and will not) of much help for the genetic diversity of the species, as I doubt they will be used for reproduction (same as the two plants collected by the "aficionado", which nobody knows where they are now....)