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Fernando Rivadavia In Mexico

I just had a nice letter from Fernando Rivadavia, the intrepid explorer and taxonomist responsible for introducing so many of the Brasilian Drosera species into cultivation and author of several new species. He writes,

"Life in Mexico has been interesting so far. Other than doing some "regular" tourism, I've been going Ping hunting every weekend, driving up to 1400km per weekend. I've seen tons of P.moranensis,
> P.heterophylla,
> P.crenatiloba, P.lilacina, P.macrophylla, P.agnata,
> P.crassifolia,
> P.acuminata, and P.parvifolia and/or P.oblongiloba,
> as well as U.livida."

He mentioned as well publishing an account soon on Eric's "World of Pinguicula' ,so I for one am looking forward to this! Nag him Eric!

Oh,what a life he leads!
 
What a life he and many others lead! Getting to travel the world and hunt for CPs. Gyah! What an amazing life! And I'll probably never see a CP of any kind in the wild. *sigh*

I think I am in the wrong field.
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Actually, I am NOT in a field which is the problem. I'm stuck in an office.

But that is why all you intrepid explorers must post pics and accounts so we not-so-luckies can drool and dream.
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PlantAKiss,

I totally understand what you're feeling.  Sometimes, sitting here at my desk, I wonder what it would be like to fly to other countries in search of CPs.  And to do it because it's your career!  
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Yup. Can you even IMAGINE that being your JOB? lol Getting paid to galavant the world and see beautiful, amazing things. Geesh. Some people get all the luck.
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(A lot of hard work more so than luck but still...).
 
I wait for a picture CD from him as well as from a Mexican friend. Ed. Read is also very active. We will normally have many pictures (and the picture of P. lilacina flowering too - see old post -)

Here is the post card of Fernando
Fernando's postcard (1)

And some pictures on P. moranensis var neovolcanica
Pinguicula moranensis var neovolcanica

To see the latest chages see this link
Latest changes
 
Pictures are in fact also added in the specific species pages.

For exemple, here is an update with Pinguicula heterophylla in wild (pictures of my friend Ruben from Mexico). Very impressive.

Pinguicula heterophylla

So keep an eye opened...
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I always enjoy the website, Eric. I go there often to see what's new and read up on everything. Thanks for putting so much work into it. Its very useful information and beautiful photos.
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Very nice indeed Eric! wow! 30 cm in diameter! And I thought my P.gigantea or moranensis var. caudata impresive (the last one got 7-8" in diameter recently). Your site is the reference about Pings, without any doubts :p
 
  • #10
Very nice Eric, thanks for sharing!

(I hope he doesn't entirely abandon Drosera in favor of Pinguicula though! :) )
 
  • #11
Here is the postcard N°3 of Fernando Rivadavia

with numerous pictures in wild of :
P. takakii
P. gypsicola
A possible hybrid between both species.

P. elhersiae (or P. esseriana, or P. debbertiana as no flowers present)
and P. potosiensis

From Fernando and Ruben

WONDERFULL !

articles

There are numerous pictures so...
 
  • #12
Wow, it is all i can say as usual! Very breath taking trip... I would like to be able to grow such nice plants as in the wild! Do your results in your greenhouse ever approache this? I am growing indoor, but i am wondering if they would react better to sunlight during summer... (Pictures usually speak by themselves, but i better ask ;))
 
  • #13
Breathtaking! Those pings growing in rock crevices are beautiful!

Can't wait for another postcard.
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  • #14
Just a word to say that in the article section, a postcard N°4 (from Oaxaca) is on-line with :

P. hemiepiphytica, P. stolonifera, P. moranensis, P. oblongiloba, P. orchioides and P. gigantea site...

articles

Next week-end, a new trip to Oaxaca is under preparation....with Ed. Read...

IMPRESSIVE

Cheers
 
  • #15
Hello all!!

Eric Partrat told me about this forum, after I wrote to him about how frustrated I was with the lack of Ping lovers on the CP Listserv. So I decided to join in hopes of getting a little more feedback to help me with my Ping hunts while here in Mexico. I'm taking a crash course in Pinguicula taxonomy and ecology and need help from all you people who grow these beautiful plants!

Thanks!
Fernando
 
  • #16
Hello Fernando.. Welcome to the forum
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Tamlin has often shared your excellent photos of Brasillian Drosera species with us and now we have the opportunity to say Thank You and possibly get to know the man behind the camera a little better. Glad to have you join our ranks and hope you have a great time here.

Cheers
Steve
 
  • #17
I've been reading some of the posts and just wanted to let you guys know that CP hunting is no Caribbean cruise!Although I always write the distances I drive, and the difficulties in locating CP sites, people still seem to think that CP hunting is something easy, that it's just a nice holliday!

To make the best out of a CP trip, I often wake up before dawn and go to sleep late at night after driving hundreds of km, climbing high mountains, and spending hours making herbarium specimens, cleaning collected plants, and organizing seeds. On my last trip to Venezuela in August my friend Gert and I got only 2-4h sleep everynight, since we'd stay up late cleaning, herborizing, etc.

And lost of time is spent preparing for these trips too. Every night here in Mexico I spend studying maps, reading Ping papers, organizing location data from herbarium specimens, etc. Often it takes heavy detective work before you finally understand the location data and find the plants in the field. My work companion from Brazil who is living with me here in Mexico City is aghast with the time I spend every night with this hobby. He jokes it is my second job.

Last of all... unfortunately nobody pays me to do any of this, it all comes out of my pockets. I guess it's a matter of priorities in life. For me, money is best spent on CP hunts. Some people like nice cars, designer clothes, expensive perfumes, whatever. I like travelling.
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Interesting CPs are not only found in far away exotic countries, many are very close by. For example D.capillaris in the SE USA which is a huge taxonomic mess, but nobody wants to study, although there are tons of CPers in the area.

So get out there in the field you couch potatoes!
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:) What? Money for food? School for the kids? Wife wants a new dress? Naaaa, waste it all on plants! Haha!

Take Care,
Fernando
 
  • #18
" So get out there in the field you couch potatoes!
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What? Money for food? School for the kids? Wife wants a new dress? Naaaa, waste it all on plants! Haha!"

Fernando...I LIKE your attitude!

Welcome to the forums.
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Its great to have you join. You can bring some magic to the ping forum! And you take such beatiful photos. I've enjoyed reading about your travels. Great stories and pics.

I am sure your adventures take quite a bit of work. But oh the rewards! Lets see...MY day...get up, feed dog, shower and dress, go to work, sit at a computer, deal with nice but often moronic people all day long, go home, feed dog, do house duties. Yeaaaahhhh...I could LOVE adventures like yours even with the hard work it entails!

Thanks for sharing your trips and I look forward to learning from you.
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Suzanne
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  • #19
Hey Suzanne,

Unfortunately I'm no professional photographer and have no intention to become one, I'm too jumpy to sit still for too long with a tripod trying to get the best shots. My technique is (especially now that I've bought a digital camera): take a bunch of pics and hope a few come out good!
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:) I'm still trying to learn a few tricks with this digital baby, hopefully future pics will be better!

Fernando
 
  • #20
I love my digital camera for JUST that reason! I take a slew of photos and then delete, delete, delete! Love it. So you don't have to worry about being a pro.
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I was just now trying to get some photos of the N. ventricosa pitchers on my office nep but alas the batteries died before I got anything spectacular. I deleted all but 2. Will try again tomorrow. Now I am off to my mundane life where I can only adventure to the various CP "sites" in my house.
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You'll love your digital camera.
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