[email protected] Tel: (868) 667-4655 May 2018 Our National Flower: The Double Chaconia By Professor Julian Duncan & Cheesman, 1928) With regard to the last for propagation. Initially he was named, recorded legend has it that the unsuccessful in getting them rooted; In 1844, Jozef Warszewicz – a Polish red transformed sepals reminded the early a measure of success came with botanist – was sent to Guatemala to French settlers of the chaconne, a peasant assistance from Mr. Roy Nichols join a Belgian company. He became dance popular in 18th century France and of the Imperial College of Tropical an independent collector and supplier Spain in which the dancer decorated their Agriculature (ICTA) and two plants of plants to orists and gardens in shirts with swatches of red ribbon (Adams were sent to Kew in Britain where Europe. He travelled extensively in 1976). they were recognised as a mutant Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica form of W. coccinea. The plant was where he discovered a wealth of It was chosen as the National ower when assigned the name W.coccinea cv new plant species. Among these was the country became an independent nation ‘David Auyong’ (Nichols, 1963). The Warszewiczia coccinea (Vahl.) Klotzsch. from Britain in 1962. Considering the local name – Pride of Trinidad – a better choice principal di erence between the wild could not have been made. type and the mutant is that in the latter, every ower in a cyme has all The plant produces a compound its sepals transformed to a greater or in orescence, consisting of an axis along lesser extent; this masks the presence which are paired stalked cymes, each of of the petals and accounts for the which contains 15-20 owers. Each ower showiness of the in orescence. possesses ve small, green sepals. On one The wild type is referred to as The ‘single’ Chaconier of the owers in a cyme, one of the sepals the single and the mutant as the The plant is native to the new world becomes transformed into a long-stalked double Chaconier (commonly called and can be found in a strip of land oval, brilliant red structure. Chaconia). Unfortunately, the parent straddling the equator, from Costa In 1957, Mrs Grace Malloon, travelling tree was cut down in a road-widening Rica in the north to equatorial along the Arima-Blanchisseuse road in the exercise. All plants in existence are Peru and Brazil in the south. This company of Mr. David Auyong, spotted a thus clonal. The mutant was recently belt includes Trinidad, where it is rather spectacular in orescence. Realising declared the national ower in place known as Pride of Trinidad, Wild they saw something unusual, they stopped of the wild type. Poinsettia or Chaconier. (Williams and Mr. Auyong collected some cuttings Continued on next page Design and Layout courtesy Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Ltd, a friend of the Asa Wright Nature Centre MAY • PAGE 2 May 2018 Continued from page 1 The use of the term ‘double’ with reference to the mutant is unfortunate. In the strictest terms, a double ower is one in which the sex organs (anthers and pistils) are transformed into petal- like structures; such owers are thus sterile. This use possibly accounts for an erroneous statement by Barwick (2004) with reference to the mutant, that ‘this double- owered form lacks a functional pistil and does not produce fruit.’ The owers produce both pistils and anthers. The pistil matures earlier than the anthers; the style elongates and exposes the stigma before the bud opens. This facilitates cross fertilization. The mutant form of W. coccinea (‘double’ Chaconier) Fruit and seed are formed normally. Seed germination is easily accomplished, but seedling establishment is problematic. Arm Terminal in orescence Vertical in orescence form terminal bud and two Horizontal arms from axillary buds Anther attached to free lobe of petal The in orescence has always been described Vertical in orescence from terminal bud and four horizontal ones form axillary buds of the as an inverted ’T.’ It has recently been found rst and second nodes. that in reality, there are three in orescences in the formation, one terminal, forming the A phenomenon that has been vertical axis of the in orescence, the other noted recently is the production of two, the arms. It is now recognised that the in orescences not only from the node vertical axis is formed from the terminal bud immediately behind the terminal bud, while the arms are formed from axillary buds but also from that next in succession, in the node immediately behind the terminal making the in orescence even more bud. spectacular. Successive stages of ower development; early emergence of style and stigma References Adams, C. Dennis (1976) Caribbean Flora. Thomas Nelson and sons Ltd; 61p. Barwick, Margaret (2004) Tropical and Subtropical Trees: An Encyclopedia. Timber Press, Portland Oregon. Nichols, R. (1963) A new cultivar of Warszewiczia coccinea, Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society 1963: 88(9): 406-408. Williams, R. O. and Cheesman, E. E. (1928) Flora of Trinidad and Tobago. Part 1, Volume 2 pp1- 48. Printed by the Government Printer, Government Printing O ce, Port of Spain. Acknowledgement The assistance of Terry Sampson, Shane Ballah and Sarah Evelyn with photography, is gratefully acknowledged. Design and Layout courtesy Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Ltd, a friend of the Asa Wright Nature Centre MAY • PAGE 3 May 2018 The Velvet Worm By Nicholas Munves The forests of Trinidad are home to many strange creatures, none stranger than the velvet worm (Macroperipatus torquatus). If you saw it creeping along the driveway at Asa Wright, you might mistake it for an earthworm. It is about the same size, has the same pinkish hue, and prefers moist and dark places. But look closer and you will see some important di erences. The velvet worm has two long feelers with which it probes the ground in front of it. It moves, not by slithering, but by walking on stubby, caterpillar-like legs. Examine its head and you will nd two nozzles on either side of its mouth. Finally, the velvet worm is no passive grazer, but a fearsome predator that Photo by Nicholas Munves rules the undergrowth after sunset. arthropods, the group that includes insects, Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad The velvet worm is truly distinguished spiders, and crustaceans. It shares with these and Tobago. The University of the West by the way it procures its food. When relatives a tough, waxy exoskeleton and Indies. 2015. its feelers brush up against some complex organ systems. The velvet worm unfortunate insect, the worm aims its lives only in the tropics and in certain regions Nicholas Munves is currently interning mouth nozzles and hoses the victim of the temperate southern hemisphere. It at the Asa Wright Nature Centre with streams of sticky glue. Within can easily be viewed at Asa Wright. Look through a program coordinated seconds, this liquid hardens into ropes for it at night along the driveway, especially by the Center for Peace & Global that bind the insect tight. The velvet after rains. Pay special attention to the cracks Citizenship (CPGC) and Koshland worm then saunters up to its hapless and crevices where it likes to hide. Integrated Natural Sciences Center prey and with its jaws injects a venom (KINSC) at Haverford College, United that lique es the insides. It slurps this References: States of America. He is helping meal out of the insect’s husk and will Mayer et al. Capture of Prey, Feeding and with conservation, education and be sated for one to four weeks. Functional Anatomy of the Jaws in Velvet Worms. research at the Centre. The velvet worm’s family tree is surprising. It is actually a cousin of the Integrative and Comparative Biology. 2015. YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE MONTH If you think your child, aged 5-16, has done something helpful to preserve the environment, please feel free to share it with us. Either write a short story or send a few pictures to [email protected]. He/she may be selected as our Young Environmentalist of the Month. Once your child is featured in our monthly newsletter, he/she and two adults will be given a complimentary day visit to Asa Wright Nature Centre, which includes viewing birds/animals on the verandah, a nature tour and use of the clear water pool. Design and Layout courtesy Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Ltd, a friend of the Asa Wright Nature Centre MAY • PAGE 4 May 2018 Where Art Meets Nature By Andre Reyes Since my son, Raimundo’s artistic expressions were featured in The Bellbird Newsletter, May 2016, his creative outpourings and experiments in plant propagation have developed exponentially at his Mizpah studio and garden. Lately he has ventured into understanding the life cycle of the butter y, with a particular interest in the Monarch butter y species as his garden has been experiencing a large in ux of these butter les since the beginning of 2018. His rearing of Milkweed plants attracted this rather unexpected number of beautiful pollinators to his garden and no sooner, the photographer’s eye was captivated and a new interest was sparked. Coming out of his own research, he which he nurtured from caterpillar to has heeded a recent international call adult stage during the Easter school by environmentalists and butter y vacation, for several days, revisited conservationists for the incubation regularly and followed Raimundo and nurturing of the Monarch butter y about the garden. Similarly, he has species. The international conservation forged close connections with his call came about due to the ill e ects of school of koi sh – the rearing and decades-old illegal logging practices in breeding of which he has successfully Mexico within its 560 square kilometre managed in his less than two years’ Monarch Butter y Biosphere Reserve experience with the beautiful situated in the state of Michoacán species.