Colour-Illustrated experience of an expedition for succulents in central, south and southwestern Madagascar Harry Mays Alsterworthia International Speci al Issue No. 8. Revised 15/2/1 Revised 8. No. Issue al 7 Euphorbia stenoclada Itampolo W of Cap Ste Marie. A colour-illustrated experience of an expedition to central, south & southwestern Madagascar. Harry Mays Woodsleigh, Moss Lane, St Michaels on Wyre, Preston, PR3 0TY,UK e-mail: [email protected] Preliminaries. seat might have been suitable for two local people This 1993 expedition was organised by the Succulent sitting side by side, but they were certainly unsuitable Society of South Africa, but all the arrangements had to for two Europeans or Americans. The space was enough be made by a Madagascan tour company. Their for three cheeks only. The fourth hung over the side of arrangements turned out to be not impressive. Three the bench seat! Cooking at midday on the road was small buses were ordered so that each member of the unacceptable. People wanted to spend time seeing plants party would have one bench seat for himself and his not sitting around while a meal was cooked. Most of the personal effects such as cameras, notebook, water etc. In chickens had their lives extended to the end of the the event, only two small buses, which had negligible expedition, when the drivers sold them to a hotel. leg room, were provided and the party was augmented by two tour company guides, who knew nothing about The buses were obviously well used and apparently old. succulents, one driver’s wife (to cook on the road!) and Tyres were worn down and cut and punctures had to be child, one mechanic for each vehicle and a crate of repaired en route. We did have two mechanics! scraggy chicken (to be cooked on the road!). Each bench Providing them was probably the most sensible thing the tour company did. Whilst travelling along a sandy road in the SW, a black line appeared in the sand - an oil leak from the bus in front in a sparsely inhabited area with only unmade roads! Examination quickly revealed that the oil filter had detached from the engine, figs. 2 & 3. The casing, filter and sealing ring were found some distance down the road covered in sand. It turned out that the thread holding the filter to the engine was non-existent. The missing thread had been replaced by a piece of wrapped- round tin cut from a can. The filter had then been forced on. Jolting and engine pressure had forced it off. Another piece of tin was cut from a can and wrapped around the nonexistent thread. This time only the filter body was forced on. The filter itself was not included as it was Fig. 2. The filter, casing and sealing ring were retrieved. reasoned that without it there would be Fig. 3. Repairs were carried out in the shade. less pressure in the filter to force it off again. It did last to the end of the expedition. On another occasion, whilst travelling down one of the few tarmac roads, we unexpectedly came across road works. The road was generally in reasonable condition but in places patches were being renewed. Squares and oblongs of tarmac had been removed and filled with stone to within a few inches of the tarmac in preparation for the final layer. Some of these holes, which were staggered across the road, had large stones placed round them and there were mounds of stone at the road side. There were no signs of any kind to indicate that road works were in progress and none to indicate danger, 2 Alsterworthia International Special Issue No. 8. Revised 15/2/17 figs. 4 & 5. The driver of the first vehicle swerved at the last moment to miss a hole, but he succeeded in avoiding it only with the right wheels. The left fell into the hole at speed causing the bus to swerve left down an embankment. The passengers were thrown about, but suffered only bruises. The bus was not so fortunate. It broke a front spring at the front end. The repair consisted of the mechanics removing the spring then reattaching it with the unbroken end at the front. In this mode the bus was driven for the rest of the day. The spring was replaced that evening at Tuléar. Somewhat less dramatic, but nevertheless also time consuming, on another occasion one of the buses became stuck in sand and extricating it proved difficult. In fact Fig. 4. Road works straddling the road without signs or attendants. it was not until a large proportion of the Fig. 5. The encounter with the road works and the excursion down the residents of a nearby village arrived on embankment broke the front left spring. the scene that enough advice and power became available to extricate the bus. By that time darkness was almost upon us and we had to camp for the night, making do with what we had with us for the evening meal and breakfast. The country. The island of Madagascar lies between 12° and 25° south, the southern tip just astride the Tropic of Capricorn. Mountain ranges run north-south down the centre and east side of the country. Rain decreases from east to west and north to south. Easterly winds from the Indian Ocean bring cyclonic rain most of the year onto the east side, about 3500mm to 5000mm (140”-200”), though the SE is drier. Rain in the SW falls in summer and averages about 340mm (14”). The coastal areas are, (Euphorbia), Apocynaceae (Pachypodium), Asteraceae therefore, tropical. The highlands are temperate. The (Senecio), Pedaliaceae (Uncarina) and Curcurbitaceae lowest recorded temperature is -8C at Ansirabe in the (Xerosicios). These are found mainly in the central, Central Highlands. western and southern parts of the island, where the natural vegetation is xerophytic, euphorbia-didieraceae The main rock formations running from east to west are forest in the south and SW, deciduous forest to the north gneiss, then granit then pre-Canbrian, then alluvial. on the western side and sclerophylous forest in the centre. The east is dominated by luxurious subtropical Madagascar is a poor country strugling to feeds its rain forest along the coast, then to the west of this by people. Maintenance of the infrastucture is limited - mountain forest. roads are in the main poor and dangerous. A number of The expedition. reserves have been declared, but considerable areas of From Antanananarivo, our point of arrival by air, we the nartural vegetation have been replaced by crops and went ESE to the Perinet-Analamozatra sub-tropical rain grazing for cattle and this process continues. forest reserve, figs 6 - 9, page 4, then on to Taolanaro. Map page 40..In pockets of boggy ground, poor in The main plant families of interest to succulent growers nutrients, the pitcher plant Nepenthes madagascariensis are: Bombacaceae (Adansonia), Passifloraceae (Adenia), is found, figs. 11 - 14, page 5. Didieraceae (Alluaudia, Alluaudiopsis, Decarya, Didiera), Aspohdelaceae (Aloe), Asclepiadaceae Moving inland, rainfall decreases and vegetation gradually (Ceropegia, Cynanchm, Folotsia, Stapelianthus), become less tall and less dense. In many places what looks Burseraceae (Commiphora), Crassulaceae (Crassula, like original vegetation is in fact secondary vegetation, due to Kalanchoe), Vitaceae (Cyphostemma), Euphorbiaceae (Continued on page 6) Alsterworthia International Special Issue No. 8. Revised 15/2/17 3 6 7 9 8 Figs. 6 to 9. Perinet-Analamozoatra Reserve. ESE of Antananarivo. Note: Day gecko. Sifaka lemur leaping through the trees. Fig. 10. Secondary vegetation with prominent Palm triangular, which is fire resistant. 10 4 Alsterworthia International Special Issue No. 8. Revised 15/2/17 11 14 12 13 Figs 11 - 14. Nepenthes madagascariensis. Found on the eastern side of Madagascar. The genus is native to Indo Malaysia, far to the east. The yellow pitchers are the plant’s “stomach”, collecting and digesting insects for their nutrients, which are in short supply in the ground. Compared with the pitchers, the flowers are quite insignificant, fig. 12, centre white. Alsterworthia International Special Issue No. 8. Revised 15/2/17 5 15 Fig. 15. Aloe helenae West of Tolanaro. Figs. 16. Euphorbia primulifolia. SE of Amboasary Fig. 17. Stapelianthus insignis. SE of Amboasary the activities of man. Fig. 10, page 4 shows secondary 16 vegetation, which was originally undergrowth. Palma triangular is fire resistant. Succulents and zerophytic plants are encountered to the west of Taolanaro. This area is the beginning of the euphorbia-didieraceae forest. We headed in the direction of Berenty. The first to be seen was Aloe helenae, fig. 15. It is an imposing plant to 4m high with a head of greatly recurved leaves, topped by cylindrical to claviform racemes. The flowers are dense and are reddish at the mouth. Euphorbia primulifolia, Stapelianthus insignis and Pachypodium rosulatum grew in rocky areas SE of 17 Amboasary. The shape of Pachypodium rosulatum caudexes depend very much on where in the rocks they grow, figs 18 - 19, pages 7. From time to time these areas are burnt, but plants growing among rocks are protected from fire as there is little to burn. Geophytes, such as Euphorbia primulifolia, which grow in sandy soils where grasses etc grow, are protected from fire by their mainly underground mode of life. Flowers appear first followed by leaves, which are relatively short lived, fig. 16 page 6. Fig. 17, page 6 looks a little unsatisfactory for a Stapelianthus insignis, but the species grows in this area. Only the one was found. Stolons are characteristic of Kalanchoe synsepala, figs 23 - 26, pages 8 & 9. They run for great distances across the ground until a suitable place is found for a rosette to develop and root.