POSTCARD from Mexico N°14

(By Fernando Rivadavia, April 3 to 12, 2004) 

A TRIP THROUGH CHIAPAS & OAXACA

PART 3 :  

               The 5^th day was one of the most memorable of the whole trip. We visited the famous Sumidero Canyon, located just around the bend from Tuxtla. This amazing bit of scenery is one of the most visited tourist spots in Mexico, with cliffs up to ~800m altitude. You can see it from two angles, either by driving along a road at the top of the canyon with several fantastic lookout points, or by taking a boat ride along the river inside the canyon, which is like navigating between Venezuelan tepuys! We spent the first few hours of the day driving along the top of the canyon and taking endless pictures of the breathtaking views of the steep walls and river below. We then took the boat ride through the canyon, which was also indescribable in beauty. And here is where it got really interesting…

            We knew there were Pings somewhere in the Sumidero Canyon. For several years a P.sp.”Sumidero” has been going around CP collections. So throughout our tour that day we’d been on the lookout for Pings. On the boat ride through the canyon, one of the main attractions is a huge cliff with a very interesting calcareous stalactite-like formation called the “Christmas tree”. As the boat pulled up along this huge formation, we realized the overhangs were completely covered with flowering Pings!! Unfortunately it was all too fast and we could hardly take pictures as we admired that beautiful population. Although we asked the boatman to pass by once again on the way back, none of us was able to get clear shots of the large numbers of Pings covering the Christmas tree.

            However we did get pretty close to a few plants and as far as we could tell, it was P.moranensis. Although flower pictures of P.sp.”Sumidero” in cultivation look a little different from more typical P.moranensis, we must not forget the incredible variation known throughout the range of this species. One oddity however of this site was the altitude: ~600m only. This is exceptionally low for P.moranensis, probably the lowest site known.

            The day was not yet over and we still had time for one more Ping: P.sharpii. This species was described in 1977, based on collections made in 1972 at “Yerba Buena near Pueblo Nuevo”. Although these 2 names are exasperatingly common for cities and towns in Mexico, we thought we’d found the right ones, about 100km N of Tuxtla. So early in the afternoon, after visiting the Sumidero Canyon, we headed N to search for P.sharpii.

            P.sharpii is supposedly close to P.lilacina, only smaller. Looking at the pictures on Eric’s website, I have to admit I am not very convinced that P.sharpii is a good species. It is too similar to P.lilacina, which is widespread (as annuals usually are) in Mexico and Central America. I don’t doubt there is some variation between populations, but maybe P.sharpii is simply the extreme of a continuum. I also find it very strange for an annual to be so restricted in its range as P.sharpii apparently is, this is not normal for annuals.

            We explored several mossy banks in pine/ oak forests in the Pueblo Nuevo area, aiming for P.lilacina–like habitats, but found nothing. I had little hopes of finding P.sharpii since it is probably an annual species in the wild and April was already a bit too far into the dry season. But it was worth a try, we might still’ve found some plants hanging on. In fact the P.lilacina I collected 6 months earlier at La Florida in Queretaro state (see postcard 1) are still alive and flowering in cultivation in Mexico City as I write (July). This suggest that at least in cultivation P.lilacina can hang on as a biennial or maybe perennial.

            Before returning to Tuxtla that day, we took a detour to the colonial town of San Cristobal where we had dinner and walked around a bit to do some sightseeing.

            The following day, the 6^th of our trip, we drove nearly 600km from Tuxtla to Oaxaca city. It was an especially long drive since the roads were narrow, there were too many trucks, and it crossed several cities. We saw no CPs that day, but there were several interesting highlights. The scenery along the way was fantastic, most of it very dry.

            We were very excited to drive past the Serra Azul in E Oaxaca state. This is the type location of P.utricularioides, the biggest oddball in the genus Pinguicula. This species is only known from a single collection from the 1950’s. It supposedly had huge scarlet red flowers with an elongated corolla tube like P.laueana. Arising from winter rosettes were a few strange leaves with long petioles and rounded lamina, which gave the plant its name because of their supposed resemblance to Utricularia traps. Curiously, something similar has happened in cultivation to another member of section Longitubus, P.crassifolia. My friend Ruben in Mexico City had a plant that put out strange petiolate leaves from the winter rosettes (see picture). Maybe these are equivalent to those strange leaves of P.utricularioides.

            At one of the stops on our way to Oaxaca City, Joe and Helen went for a walk in the semi-arid vegetation and found dried up Martynia annua. Seeds of this plant germinated in cultivation and have even flowered already, the petals being mostly white, but with beautiful purple and yellow marks. At another stop we saw some interesting agaves as well as cool epiphytes, although it was really dry. We were exploring an area where supposedly some Pings had been found, but we didn’t stop the car at the exact site because there were several police cars present and we decided it was best not to risk any trouble with them.

            We arrived in Oaxaca City late in the afternoon, but still in time to see the famous ruins of Monte Alban. At night after checking into a hotel, we did touristy stuff walking around the lovely city center, gaping at the wonderful churches, and buying some gifts. As usual, sleep was short that night. We went to sleep late and woke up at dawn. But we could always catch up on sleep during the long drives from one place to another. And on the 7^th day of our trip, there was more than enough motivation to jump out of bed: this was the day we hoped to see P.laueana in flower!

To be continued on POSTCARD N°14 Part 4