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Tending oak saplings, and learning about a carnivorous plants

 Sizing up the day

Today I returned to a project started last week at the Conservatory of the University of Minnesota (St. Paul Campus), tending a small group of oak saplings. They are all different species in the genus Quercus (oaks).

As I mentioned in last week's post, there are 16 different species of oaks in this small collection. They all have suffered a bit of neglect over the past year, and staining from an accidental spray of white wash. My project has been to clean up the damage as best I can.

Today I was able to clean, prune, and stake 6 of the 16 oaks. They are mostly all evergreen oaks native to Mexico and California. Their Latin names are Quercus agrifolia, Q. oleoides, Q. champmanii, Q. wislizeni, Q. texana, and Q. acutifolia. I've included the photos of three of these in the post below.

Plants new to me

After my work with the oaks I took a bit of time to walk around the Conservatory. It is springtime in the greenhouse, so many plants are blooming. There are so many beautiful blooms, I couldn't possibly do them justice in this tiny blog. But, I've included photos of two plants that demanded my attention:

Utricularia cornigera, carnivorous water plant

Native to Brazil, this water plant is also commonly known as the giant purple bladder wort. It consists of a matt of succulent round leaves floating on the water. Its roots bear small sacs which suck in small critters that happen to swim past. The sacs then slam shut, trapping the bugs to be digested within the sacs. The plant gains important nutrients, particularly nitrogen and proteins. In the spring, the matt of leaves sends up spikes of purple flowers to attract pollinator insects. Most species of bladderworts have flowers that are much smaller than these 3-inch purple monsters.

Disocactus species

Disocactus is a genus of epiphytic cacti that have evolved to live in trees or on top of rocks. They are native to Central and South America and the Caribbean islands.  This particular plant is probably a hybrid of other species in the Disocactus genus. It looks a bit like Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera), and are probably somewhat related.

Here are three examples of the oaks that were cleaned today. The photos were taken before cleaning! Just so you know...

Quercus acutifolia

Quercus acutifolia, is native to southern Mexico and Central America. It has deciduous leaves and grows to 40 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 1 foot.


Quercus texana

Quercus texana, also known as Nuttall's oak is a tall deciduous tree native to the southeastern corner of the U.S. It is becoming more popular with horticulturists, noted for its fast growth


Quercus wislizeni

Quercus wislizeni, also known as interior live oak is a small shrubby evergreen oak native the lowland hills of Mexico and California.


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