the plot thickens---perhaps the plant in question is U. quelchii all along
Here's a email sent to me from skiier regarding his sources and U. qulechii:
"Over the past couple of years I have received quelchiis from Tony Gridley
and Lois O. The first one I got from Tony, then a while later I got one from
Lois. The three photos not named "U. quelchii from Lois" are the plants that
I got from Tony. I will also say that the ones from Lois have not always
produced small leaves, it has only been producing small leaves in the last
6-8 months. I would guess that this reduction in leaf size is due to the
unfavorable conditions it has been experiencing in my greenhouse or perhaps
it is because the plant is in a state of pseudo-dormancy. The photo of the
plant from Lois was taken earlier today; I could not find any photos of the
plant when I first received it. The other quelchii (the one from Tony) has
also been reduced in size to some extent since I got it. If you look at the
photos (you will need to zoom in on the quelchii) titled "U. dichotoma
flowers" and "img_0627" the U. quelchii plant is in the pot furthest from the
camera. Also if you look at the labels you can see that there are no U.
tricolors in the group. These photos were taken a few days after I received
the plants from Tony. At this time the leaves were looking much more like
quelchii leaves than tricolor leaves because of their upright teardrop
shape. Since there is no U. tricolor anywhere in my greenhouse, it seems
likely that the U. quelchii leaves currently look like U. tricolor leaves due to a
combination of environmental conditions and natural variation in the
species. I have recently changed the potting media for all my 'epiphytic'
Utrics to 100% live sphagnum moss and they seem to do much better in this
media than any other media. I have also noticed that many 'epiphytic' Utrics
will only produce tubers when they dry out (not too much) between watering.
If they are kept wet 100% of the time, it stands to reason they don't need
tubers to store their own water. I say this because it is what I found to be
the case when I conducted an experiment on the matter. Here is what I did: I
put a cutting of U. quelchii x praetermissa (both are tuberous species) in
the drain in my greenhouse which dries out when the reverse osmosis is not
running. After two months, the cutting produced few, large leaves as well as
a tuber. On the other hand, I took a U. alpina x endresii (both are
tuberous) cutting from the parent plant which has many tubers and put it in
a basket with live sphagnum which was kept wet nearly all the time. It still
has not produced any tubers.
I realize that the leaves these plants currently produce
look very much like U. tricolor leaves. But when you look at the leaves this
plant had when I first received it, added to the fact that the plant
produces tubers when allowed to dry out between watering it seems very
likely that this plant is indeed U. quelchii. I hope this sheds new light on
the probable identity of these plants. If you still have questions or
doubts, please feel free to continue the conversation."
im inclined to believe him. he also sent pictures of his U. quelchii, and they have leaves that resemble very much to Ron's plants which makes me believe that something possibly about my conditions causes it to grow U. tricolor like leaves--i've also noted in his photos that he has them waterlogged. i'll post the pictures as soon as i get permission from him.