Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes part 2, round 3

By this point I have spent so much money and time looking for this species that despite the anxiety that I have to find it, my energies and spirit were reaching the low point.  Jeff gave me some more enthusiasm to do it for one more time, and we went to the same area but this time to explore two more trails that went along the river. We went with Mercedes Grefa, Gabriel's wife and she was great, happy and help us negotiate with the kichwa community of Alukus for permission to go in their territory.

We walked along the river and found some incredible little pleurothallids from the now Panmorfia genus. Along our walk along the Jatunyacu river we found this incredible site called "El Lamedero" where you can see clouds of butterflies and many of them flying around you and resting all over you.

Along this trail, Mercedes and Jeff kept on bringing me plants, hoping that they will be Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes, and none of them were.  At one point Mercedes told me that she just wanted to cry every time I said no...

 Some of the little treasures we found, Panmorphia barbulata, Platystele stenostachya and Dryadella cuspidata

We turned around and try to hike towards a little hill using a path that had been open for wood harvesting.  This place is full of very hungry mosquitos that we could not stop walking otherwise they will devour us.  The mosquitos sacrificed me a couple times but I was just so eager to find this plant that I could not really care at that moment.

Coming out of the forest, I just checked on some trees and I found one plant with one flower of something that could potentially be S. pleurothallodes.  My time was over, I needed to go and get a movilization permit form my plants, go back to Quito and continue exploring for other species in other regions, so this was a beautiful finding.

I am coming out of the forest with Mercedes and on my other hand in the ziploc bag you can see the "Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes" I found.

Look clearly at my arm, can you see the one million mosquito bites? but I am so happy.

This map shows our exploration efforts in this region, on the upper right corner you can see additional trails.

But NOT so fast

It turned out that what I found it was not S. pleurothallodes, it is actually S. merinoi, and it is really difficult to distinguish them because vegetatively they are similar but you need to see the column to be certain and for that purpose you need a microscope, so yes. Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes won again (4-0).

Before I forget!!!

In these Amazonian adventures our friends, Gabriel, Mercedes, Hernan and German treated us with the Amazonian delicacy..."Chontacuros" that are actually catterpillars that live in the chonta palm (Bactris gasipaes) and represent an important source of protein.  They are fried in butter and served on a bed of zesty heart of palm (also the Chonta palm - Bactris gasipaes) over a banana leaf.  You eat them with your hands
Interesting to try, not sure I could add them to the regular diet unless I get lost in the field again!

Think about the trophic levels of this dish....

Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes round 2, second part

This time I decided to return to the place where Alex and I got lost since he found the type there.  So Gabriel and German came with us. We have to pick up some machetes so we will be prepared.

German and Gabriel were going to guide us but we were also prepared to trust our GPS.  We started our trip walking by the river and then into the forest through a super steep river bank that was so steep that it was difficult to look for pleurothallids, but we got super lucky and found Muscarellas, Sarcinulas, Platysteles, Dryadellas and Specklinias (all sister to Scaphosepalum).  The most incredible view were Vanilla plants along these steep hills and Aristolochia ruiziana the first time I have seen the in the wild.
We kept on climbing and we reached the same plateu were I got lost, it was a very good moment, to be there but this time with friends and ready to find this elusive Scaphosepalum.

We found Specklinias but still could not find Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes.  We started our way back and guess what...our guides got lost again.  Jeff kept on following his GPS so sooner or later we were going to get out of there but did not not want  to make our field guides feel bad so we kept on walking with them.  German and Gabriel finally gave up and we walked following the river (Jeff was still checking with his GPS and we were fine) and look what we found, you really need to watch carefully and twist your feet so you do not stand on them:

Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes won again though 3-0, the boys were relaxing by these natural swimming pools, I was completely frustrated at the time because the next day was the Ecuadorian sensus which meant we could not go out to the field and there was a curfew starting at 4 pm that day and the law of no alcohol distribution was clearly not observed in this place.  It was 5 by the time these gentlemen were drinking some refreshments...

Before I forget...The Ecuadorian census is very interesting, all the high school students receive training from the government agency and they are assigned areas where they have to go and conduct the sensus interviews, therefore, the curfew.  The sensus is performed in one day and you cannot find anyone on the street.

 Jeff being counted for the Ecuadorian sensus

During the census the Amazonian fauna enjoy the lack of humans and go for a bath in the junction of the Tena and Pano rivers. The tapir was exploring a panga (amozonian canoe) that was left there.

Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes round 2, first part

Please read the prelude to Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes published a little earlier.

Is 2010, a year after I got lost. This time I have Jeff who can navigate with his eyes closed, we have acquired a super GPS with a special sensor, done the research with Google Earth, generated probability models with MaxEnt and we are going after Scapsheoalum pleurothallodes again.  My secret weapon is that this time I have three kichwa friends with me and I have no intention of getting lost again. Did I mentioned it took me six months to get the permits? and I got those too!
My models indicated that I could find S. pleurothallodes in the forests along the tributaries of the Jatunyacu River so we went to explore the forests of the river Ibillichin.
The  picture on the left shows the entrance to the forest and it is the home to hundreds of Amazonian parrots.

I was super lucky to have Gabriel Grefa, German Shihuango and Hernan Grefa with us.  They have a house at the top of the mountain that is really incredible, if you wake up early in the morning before the clouds get in you can see Reventador, one of those incredible Amazonian Volcanoes.

The trail to get there is steeeeeep, good for the heart, not that good for the soul, and terrible for the knees and the vocabulary.  All along the trail is evident that  the forest is recovering from deforestation and farming so pleurothallids were not frequent, nevertheless, the common Stelis vulcanii, Stelis argentata, Platystele stenostachya were all over the trail forest. Our kichwa friends were so amazed by the size of these tiny orchids that it was fun to tell them about how are they pollinated.

After a long long walk we got to the house.  I have been so many years working in the field that I learnt that when you are struggling to get to a point the natives will always tell you that you are almost there, that is just after the curve, or by the time they finish their cigarette you will be there when in fact, the curve never ends, they finish a pack of cigarettes and you are still not there.  Now I just enjoy all fun sayings that they have to encourage us, the city people!

This is Gabriel's house up in the mountain in the buffer zone of the Llanganates Reserve, I am talking to Hernan and German about our breakfast that turned out to be rice with mayo and fresh lemongrass tea.

 The Reventador Volcano can still be seen at the back, the Amazonian clouds are coming in.

That night, our chefs cooked tuna spaghetti and popcorn. We were really lucky with our friends that helped us in so many ways.  Here you can see our stove and the chefs cooking underneath the house, on the left is German "Chef International" and on the right Hernan "El Chef Japones" since he is married to a Japanese lady and spent some time in Japan. After all these years I soooo admire people that can cook on the fire since I burn everything. We shared some stories over dinner and I think that our favorite was German telling his story of his first contact with chocolate.
German used to live in a very remote place where there was no contact with people from the city, once, a mission went to visit them for Christmas and gave him one chocolate wrapped on a golden foil paper, he describes it as been the best memory of his childhood.  Years later he went out to a little town that had a tienda and purchased a little golden rectangular thing that he thought was chocolate, but it turned out that it was a "cubo maggi" (concentrate bouillon paste) that was so salty....This was Thanksgiving day in the US and I thank Jeff for having eaten his tuna spaghetti (he hates tuna!) and for all the high happy spirits of the team!

Sleeping in that house was also incredible, the wind blows so hard that you really feel that you are going to fly away.

 For your delight and entretainmet a picture of  Suarezia.  This forest had also Octomerias and Myoxanthus!

Regarding Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes and making this story short, as embarrassing as this may be...Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes won again 2-0, we walked and walked and walked and we could not find this species. 

 

Us taking a break...I am too embarrassed to say that we should quit the search because the altitude is not the right one anymore...therefore my strange look. But I did not torture the crew anymore and we started our return...

Before I forget....Jeff and I treated the guys with a great meal at our return and we went to this restaurant that has three sloths that go around the restaurant.  Alex had taken me there after we got lost and I promised myself that I was going to do it again when I return to look for this plant.

Prelude to Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes, S. merinoi, S. parviflorum and outgroups

The week before Christmas 2009, Alex Hirtz (a famous orchid explorer and a good friend) and I went in the search of Scaphosepalum pleurothallodes in the forests close to the Jatunyacu Delta.  These forests are extraordinaire but very different from the montane forests that I normally work at.

This species is tiny and it has given me the biggest headaches of my professional life.  On that field trip Alex and I separated, got lost and had to sleep in the forest until the next day. As scary as this may sound it was a very humbling experience that I will treasure for ever.  It rained so hard that I could not see a thing, I could not hear more than the storm on the forests so I decide to sit down, give up for the day and just think about the important things of life (that at some points included a prosiutto sandwich that I have left in the car).

The Legend

Years later,  (you will need to read the blogs of my return to this locality) the kichwa friends that came with me to the field where terrified that I have slept alone in the jungle, since the "Lord of the Jungle"normally comes in the form of one of your friends and  takes lost women into the center of the jungle pretending he is helping them out.  Afterwardsthey turn into jaguars and women find themselves with jaguars, boas, tucans and other creatures. Women who experience the "heart of the jungle"should never talk about the creatures that she sees otherwise the spirits will punish her. I think that I was just thinking about the chapters of my dissertation, the collecting permits and the prosciutto sandwich, too blind to see this spirit....

These incredible pictures of the "Lord of the Jungle" were taken by my good friend Santiago Espinosa. He is one of the most remarkable field biologists that I know and he has an incredible Doctoral project on jaguars.  I thank him for letting me use his pictures and please ask him for permission if you intend to use this images.

Conclusion of the trip:

- A wet camera that passed to a better life (therefore no pictures for this story)

- Alex had many stitches on his hands from grabbing some rough edged grass

-Four Kichwas found me almost at the end of the trail, close to the entrance to the forest at 11 am next morning.  The kichwas were using a snail shell (caracola) to call me and I was calling them back by whistling (I am a pro at whistling and I owe that super power to Maria, the lady who has worked with my family since I have memory)

-I had one million chiggers on my feet and waist, really sore legs and could hardly walk after I returned to Quito

Scaphosepalum antenniferum in Cachaco

We continued the search for Scaphosepalum antenniferum.  This time Lucho Mendoza came with us.  Lucho and Beto Mendoza are sons of an earlier collaborator of Dr. Luer and Masdevallia mendozae is named after him.  Nowadays Lucho manages his father greenhouse and we were super lucky to have him in our field trip and is very knowledgeable of the plants of the region.  We went to Cachaco, stop in several points in Yangana and the Tapichalaca region.

On our way to Yangana on the Quinara ruins, a very strange landscape dry landscape that changes in few kilometers to a very wet dry forest.

 Carlos Naranjo and Lorena Riofrio helping me look for my plants.  Jeff climbing to reach the surface to look at the forest.

There is a famous locality "road to the Military Antenas in Numbala" where many species have been found.  I was interested in finding the outrgroups of Scaphosepalum that were reported in this region, did not have pleurothallid luck but I really enjoyed this very different forest.  This is a dwarf Cunnoniaceae, Ericaceae, bambu forest and Lucho knows the old trails that we followed because his ancestors used this way to go to the Amazon.  You can still walk in this old trails that are pretty spectacular. We found Cyrtochilums with spikes many many meters long.

Carlos and Jeff looking for orchids. 

 The bed of the truck was a luxurious banquet considering that a day before we were driving for 14 hours eating toffee candies, potato chips and coke. I this field trip we were been fancy an getting tuna fish sandwich with  pickles and mayo.

 

 We did not find populations of Scaphosepalum antenniferum in this fieldtrip even though this species was reported there, nevertheless, a friend of mine gave me some pictures from plants he found in a private forest in the Tapichalaca area. 

Before I forget....This is why it is better to be out of the lab

 

Scaphosepalum dalstroemii: Southern Ecuador

This time I was after Scaphosepalum dalstroemii.  Stig Dalstrom, who discovered this species, is a good friend of mine and I had the pleasure to share my office with Stig for almost two years.  He always teased me and now that we don't share the office it seems that he still teases me.  Where ever I go there is a species named after him, just to let me know that he was there before.
Scaphosepalum dalstroemii, "his" species, grows in one the southernmost point of Ecuador. It is soooo far south that our GPS kept on indicating that we were in Peru.

We went to Loja and had the collaboration of the most wonderful people at the Technical University of Loja (UTPL). This region of the Andes is completely different than the central and northern regions of Ecuador, the topography is different and even though the mountains are lower, the bitter cold of the highlands of the north is present if not worst in this region.

We found a Fernandezia in the dwarf forest on the pass of Loja-Zamora road, Carlos Naranjo, Beto Mendoza and Lorena Riofrio, my collaborators from UTPL, Loja.  Not a lot of Pleurothallids since the draught has affected this region for years.

We went all the way down to Zamora, a beautiful little Amazonian town in less than an hour, botanizing, looking for orchids and found some incredible populations of Phragmipediums.

We continued our trip in the search for Scaphosepalum dalstroemii and we stopped in Amaluza to sleep overnight and continue the next  day to Jimbura, the type locality of this species.  The most important lesson of that night is: Don't stay in a hotel next to the rooster fight arena. You will not be able to sleep.

Back to business:

This is where Scaphosepalum dalstroemii lives, it is truly sublime and in a way I am happy that is difficult to get to otherwise it will be colonized and destroyed.  There is some evidence of fire in the area, a common practice in the highlands, but the populations of this little Scaphosepalum are in good shape.  This species is not common in the market, and if you stay tuned to my publications you will know why.  I cannot spoil the surprise!

As evidence of how sublime and cold this place is I am adding some pictures of for example a stairway to....heaven? And the Lorenas (Riofrio and Endara) trying not to freeze.

Now, the roads....a comment on the roads....Ecuador has some incredible highways, better than other neighboring countries and I am really proud to be Ecuadorian for this reason BUT this one has to be the exception. The road Jimbura to Zumba might look in the map like eight miles but it is actually 12 hours of driving (you can cross Ecuador in 13 hours if you use the Panamerican highway) but this road is so far south that the government forgot about it. We saw the most beautiful southern Ecuadorian forests like for example this patch of endangered palms

but we almost crashed three buses, many rocks, ran over cattle, cross a river that we could feel the water rumbling underneath our truck and see the water above our windows. I am used to bad road but this "summer" road is nothing like anything I have been before.

For your delight, a movie of one of our almost crashes against a rock at the end of a hill on a muddy road (I hope our parents not reading this part...)

This part of the trip ended with a short and scary interaction with some narcos in Vilcabamba, the Longevity Valley where people get to live until they are 120 years old and where a lot of retired people are moving to enjoy the benefits of this dry and healthy valley that is no longer peaceful and sleepy as it used to be when I was a kid.

Before I forget.... So in retrospect now the Saints in trucks and buses have a lot more meaning, notice that this Divino Nino (Divine Baby) has lightning on the sides, just to keep him awake!