Aurélien Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 Hello all, I just come back from South East Sulawesi, where I look particularly carnivorous plants and ant-plants. To begin, some photos of Hydnophytum, I quite sure that it's H. formicarum. They grew in really open area, on trees which had not a lot of leaves (perhaps Eucalyptus deglupta). The trees were really spaced from each other and I suspect them to lose their leaves at some season of the year. I see Hydnophytum only on high trees (never under 15m high), in full sun, full wind, and always in vertical parts of the trunk. Furthermore, this part of the Island have a really drought season from june to november. So, they litteraly not have a single drop of water for half a year! Following Indonesian people, the rainy season is also really hard because a lot of water drop in a few months. The river that we see lacks about 4 or 5 meter high water in comparaison to the rain season! Here a tuber freshly fallen: Gallery and ants are truly visible. This one is falled since longer time (my foot for comparison, it's quite huge!): Galery are still visible, and ants also. I hope you enjoy it! Next day, newt pics. All the best, Aurélien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurélien Posted November 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 This tuber ion particular, was the only one in a big area and was simply gigantic! We cannot resist to the wish to climb the tree where it grow (about 20 m high) The tuber was so big that I can't take a picture of all the plant when I was on the tree. I measured the circumference : about 155cm! And some picture of ant-entries... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrick Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 The large size of this hydnophytum is revealing. Already there are hints that at least some of the maximum sizes recorded in the literature are far too conservative. From my limited field experiences I have seen examples of plants growing in particularly beneficial and fire protected sites that were enormous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurélien Posted November 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Its size is revealing? But what does it reveal? Its age or the good conditions of this ecosysteme for Hydnophytum's growth? I indeed often read that Hydnophytum's tuber could reach the size of an human head... Needless to say that I never see anybody with a so big head! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stone Jaguar Posted December 2, 2014 Report Share Posted December 2, 2014 Aurelian: Thanks for the very interesting images, particularly those that show the details of the domatia. As anyone who has grown Hydnophytum moseleyanum under ideal conditions for protracted periods of time knows, some of these plants can achieve impressive dimensions in fairly short order. Some of the decades-old plants that are shown in images taken in situ on this forum provide evidence that they may achieve mammoth proportions in nature. Cheers, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurélien Posted December 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 Thank you Jay for your comments. Indeed, I've seen pictures of big tuber in the wild, mostly on this forum. But see it in true is even more great! Aurélien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurélien Posted May 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2016 Hello All, The first film of "Lost worlds", association who organize the 2014 expedition, is just online: http://www.lost-worlds.org/en/ At 2:26 you can see a pretty nice Hydnophytum formicarum (as well asthe team leader and a stupid hanged botanist ) Enjoy! Aurélien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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