Utricularia simulans - Savane Marivat - Macouria - French Guyana
Dear forum readers,
I was in the savannahs of beatifull French Guyana again !
This time, I was at Savane Marivat, a little savannah near Macouria, a little town 25 Km away from Cayenne.
Here is a little report about a spectacular representative of the genus Utricularia, I speak about U.simulans. The flower of this plant is very small, but when you approach your eye, you’ll see delicate sepals…pictures come later ! The stem are also somewhat spectacular : they are reddish, with some yellow to green places – very nice.
I found a very big and healthy colony : there were about some hundreds of flowers, on some places, you couldn’t move without putting a foot on a plant…..and there was not only U.simulans at this place !
Here is a general picture of the biotope : it’s sandy, you can see it on the way, and covered with grasses. There are no trees, only little bushes here and there.
The place is burned down once a year by natural bushfires. The vegetation need 3 weeks to recover : after this period, the savannah is green again.
During the wet part of the year ( speak “rainy season” ) the soil is covered with green plants, flowers in full bloom, and little bogs are building themselves here and there in the lowest parts of the savannah. The flat parts of the land are covered with a layer of water, which can be very deep : between 1cm and 30cm !
Of course, you’ll not find our friends there…only the upper part of the area is colonized by our plants. Some are growing in water, some in a moist substrate…the soils consist on a layer of very thin white sand. On the sand, you’ll find vegetal debris, like leaves; they are decomposing themselves, and form a thin layer of nutrients on the sand surface. All these debris are washed away by the water and/or dry out during the dry season. All the plants of the area dies away, only the grasses survive ( but they will finish burned !
)I told you I saw hundreds of plants. This is true, and of course, no pictures will ever replace the reality. Here is a poor picture that might show…saying 30m², from hundreds !
Here is another one, maybe you’ll have a better view on the water which covers the soil. At this place, the deepness of the water is about 5 to 10cm, it depend on the place ; of course, you can’t miss the hundreds of flowers here and there, and maybe you’ll discover some other interesting plants ? have you seen the Drosera ?
The stems are reddish, and I looked for an anthocyanyn-free plant, but I found only one : the stem was entirely green, but the flower scape was along to grow, that’s why I cant say that anthocyanyn-free plants do really exist.
All the plants are coloured, the main difference from one to another is the colour of the sepals & petals…Of course, it’s not easy to find a particular plant when there are hundreds !
Most of the flower stems had one to three open or “semi-open” flowers, while others prepared to open :
The soil is covered with debris, and they decompose themselves. After the water went away, the result is this :
( by the way : there are no visible leaves attached to the stem of U.simulans…have you seen it ? )
The flowers are yellow. The sepals are a must seen ! They are like having been cut by very thin and small scissors, it’s a pleasure for the eye !
Most plants are red and yellow in their general appearance. It’s the same for the flowers, yellow + red petals and yellow + red sepals :
But you can also find plants which show bright yellow petals and sepals :
This is it my friends !
I hope the report was interesting, your comments are welcome.
