Trip 2007

 

On January 2007 I went back to Thailand for the usual two months. Also this time I was able to concentrate over about 20 different areas in the north, northeast, centre and south of Thailand. While living in many of these areas (which include cities and national parks) I visited some further locations, villages and reserves. I was travelling every day of the week, mainly with bus, minibus (“songtaew”) and hitchhiking. The two main events of the trip: the new species found near Chanŕ and the wonderful colony of N. mirabilis “bizarre” found near Trang. That’s if you just want to run and read the most important discoveries.

 

I also tried to find Nepenthes at Khao Yai, Chong Bat Lak, Huay Wang Klang, Adang, Bung, Kanchanadit, Trakan and Khao Kuap. All places where Nepenthes have been found in the past, but where I couldn’t find or I wasn’t allowed to see them. At least in most cases I was able to find the place itself, or the pitcher plants location, both things being up to now completely unknown even to Thai people. 

 

I eventually understood where Nepenthes were hiding at Pha Taem and I saw some more N. smilesii at Phu Wua.

N. mirabilis was found at Ta Kuapa, Ko Pratong (an incredible day!), Ranong, Nakon Si Thammarat and Phattalung, all in the south. In Krabi I gave a look at my dear, old N. mirabilis bog and you can see how different it looks now.

 

Male and female cuttings of N. sp. “Chanŕ”, N. mirabilis “bizarre” from Trang, N. smilesii from Pha Taem and N. kampotiana from Trat are now growing fast and well in my little greenhouse. Hopefully their seeds, complete of their precise original locations, will make these species survive both in cultivation and in the wild.

 

Some bad news. Shigeo Kurata wrote me that he’s still not sure that N. “Viking” is a new species or a form of N. mirabilis. All our enthusiasm could find a premature end. He’ll try to solve the problem by the end of this year. Personally, I think N. “Viking” should be considered a new species, especially after having seen how an extreme form of N. mirabilis like the one from Trang can still be easily seen very close to N. mirabilis. Much closer than N. “Viking” is. I think the latter is too far from its ancestor to be considered still belonging to it. And I’m afraid that Shigeo wasn’t able to work with enough material, just relying on his own plant and on the male flower I sent him, and of course without having ever seen the plants in their natural habitat.

Then, Nong reports how a fine colony of the plants called by Thai people “giant thorelii” (the new sp. “Chanŕ”), growing on one of the Phangŕ islands, was destroyed to leave space to a new luxury resort. That island was, together with Chanŕ, the only other location known so far for that species.

 

To anybody who is still interested in Baw Saw, the lost place where the first specimen of N. smilesii has been found in 1895: the latest news (directly from the staff of the Thai Ministry which has been tortured by my obsession for a couple of hours!) are that “baw saw” in Thai language means “bride and bridegroom” and it refers to any place where a man and a woman use to meet when they are engaged. That’s why Thailand is covered with little places called Baw Saw, including a small hill on Phu Kradung. But we were looking for a Baw Saw that is in front of the Mekong, probably on the top of a flat mountain. Surprise: the 1895 was exactly the year which saw a large part of the Thai territory being won, taken off and occupied by the Laos army. That territory was included in a (now) imaginary line that goes from the northern tip of the northern region to the north-eastern tip of the northeastern region. So, if our Baw Saw is in front of the Mekong, that now is the border between Laos and Thailand, it could simply be on the other side of the river, which in 1895 was Thai but now is Laotian. The area is good promising anyway, as Phu Wua itself is a flat mountain that hosts N. smilesii and lies right in front of the Mekong. Unfortunately it seems that no one ever called it Baw Saw. 

 

Unbelievable, I still didn’t see any N. ampullaria or N. gracilis in the wild.

A good lesson I learnt: the more you walk, the less you will find. Use mind or money instead of legs.

The most exciting moment: the great brainwave in Surat (read the blue lines of Kanchanadit).

I’m always more convinced that I’ve got some angels looking after me.