Cuban Pings

7/25/2019 Cuban Pings

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AIPC-21 - AIPC Magazine 27

Searching for

West Cuban Pinguicula

By Yoannis Domnguez - Photos by the Author

Among the Greater Antilles islands, Cubais the largest one and due to its variety of be-autiful landscapes, it is known as Te Pearlof Antilles. It is recognized as the oceanicisland which keeps the largest number ofendemic species which among other factors,is due to the large amount of vegetationtypes existing in its small territory. Cuba is

an archipelago compiled of the main island(Cuba), another relatively large island (Islade la Juventud) and thousands of minorones. Te climate is tropical seasonally wet,with marine influence and semi-continentalfeatures. It has two differentiated seasons,the rainy one from May to October andthe drought season for the rest of the year.

Excerpt from AIPCMagazine n.27 - September 2012Journal of theAIPC(Italian Carnivorous Plant Society)www.aipcnet.it

Graphics & composition: Chiara di BiaseCollaborators on this article include: Maurizio Saroldi,Gabriele Basso, Giovanni Mendini

An area degraded by illegal sand extraction in Viales National Park, Pinar del Ro
http://www.aipcnet.it/http://www.aipcnet.it/


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Other carnivorous species in Western Cuba IAlthough the most part of the land is low,there are a few elevations and mountainousareas located on the west, center and eastof the island. Cuban territory was oncecovered with dense forests but currentlythe original vegetation is restricted to themountains ranges and some other areaswhich show typical ecologic characteristicsmainly associated to the extreme chemicalnature of some soil types such as limestone,quartz sand (silica), serpentine rocks, humicdeposits, etc

Within the great diversity of Cubanplants there are species belonging to twofamilies of carnivorous plants: Drose-raceae, only represented by the genusDrosera (sundews) and Lentibulariaceaewith representatives of the three generathat compound the family Genlisea (cor-kscrew plants), Pinguicula (butterworts)and Utricularia (bladderworts) see tablepg. 25. We can find Cuban carnivorousplants living as aquatics (some species of

Utricularia), epiphytes (only P. lignicolaBarnh.) and terrestrial (representatives ofall genera). Even those species that livein terrestrial ecosystems can be found indamp, often flooded soils. Te areas wherethe Cuban species live, as is common tomost carnivorous plants, have nutrient-poor soils, hence they have developedsophisticated mechanisms for the incorpo-ration of nutrients from the degradation oflittle animals such as insects.

A few studies were made about Cubancarnivorous plants. Cuban botanist C.M.Panfet, from the National Botanical Garden

in Havana, has dedicated a great part of herwork to study Cuban CPs; she did a lot ofworks on this subject mainly studying taxo-nomy and systematic of both families. In2008, when I got a Master degree in PlantBiology (working on a totally different mat-ter) I contacted her because of my interestin the genus Pinguiculafor continuing PhDstudies in plant biology. Since then she has

Above: Drosera capillaris at Sabanalamar - San Ubaldo, Pinar del Ro. Left:Genlisea filiformis, found atLos Indios Ecological Reserve, Isla de la Juventud, twenty-eight years since its last report


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- Other carnivorous species in Western Cuba II

Clockwise, from top left: Utricularia gibba, Via-

les National Park, Pinar del Ro;U. juncea, Los

Indios Ecological Reserve, Isla de l a Juventud;U. subulata, Los Pretiles Ecological Reserve,

Pinar del Ro; U. pusilla, Viales National Pa rk,

Pinar del Ro

been my thesis advisor in Cuba and a greatfriend, we both and Prof. V.F.O. Miranda(my thesis advisor in Brazil), share the inte-rest on understanding genetic diversity andother aspects of Cuban Pinguiculawhich isthe subject of my studies today.

Te first record of Pinguicula in Cubawas in 1866 when German botanist A.Grisebach described two species new toscience based on the material collected inwestern Cuba by C. Wright between 1860and 1865. Tose species were Pinguiculaalbida Wright ex Griseb. and Pinguiculafilifolia Wright ex Griseb., and remainedthe only two Pinguiculaspecies in the we-stern part of the country until descriptionof Pinguicula cubensisUrquiola et Casper,more than a hundred of years later, in 2003by J. Casper and A. Urquiola. Te threespecies are closely related and share manycommon features mainly those involvingflower morphology, but it is clear that thereare marked differences among their leaves

and their habitat. Tey belong to subgenusIsoloba, section Agnata because the lobes oftheir corollas are almost equal (subisolobe)and have a short spur, only P. cubensisshowsa slightly zigomorphic flower as it is com-mon for the rest of the genus. Tese, likeall Cuban butterworts, are included in thegroup of tropical homophyllous Pinguiculadue to the lack of winter resting buds (hi-bernacula).

Pinguicula filifoliaPinguicula filifolia is present in two of

the Cuban archipelago islands (Cuba and

Isla de la Juventud). Tese two islands weresometimes joined (between the Plioceneand Pleistocene) in a single territory, dueto a succession of events of emersion andsubmersion according to geological changesin the Caribbean. It can somehow explainthe disjunct distribution of the species today,since it is restricted to siliceous soils derivedfrom slate rocks common in these areas. Ac-

cording to herbarium records, P. filifoliawasa widely distributed species in western Cubabut in my trips (based on those records) Iwas successful only in two locations, oneon each island. Tis species occurs fromsea level to 10 m above sea level, mainly incoastal plains of quartz sand called whitesand savannas located only in Pinar del Roand Isla de la Juventud. P. fil ifoliainhabits inopen wet areas under direct sunlight at hightemperatures (above 30 C) in summer andnot less than 10 C in winter nights. It alsocould survive partially submerged for severaldays in shallow water after heavy rains.

Pinguicula filifolia shows a tiny rosette ofspathulate leaves when seedling and has arosette of fleshy linear-filiform leaves whenmature. Both types of leaves are yellowish-green and moderately covered with stalkedand sessile glands on adaxial surface. Fili-form leaves are erect, up to 20 cm and havea circinate apex (i.e. rolled during the

growth of the leaf, as for ferns, Drosophyl-lum lusitanicumand other Pinguicula, suchas P. medusina, P. gypsicolaetc.). Te flowersarise from the center of the rosette on stalksof about 15 to 20 cm in height and are va-riable in size, shape and color (white, yellowand a range of tones of blue, purple andviolet). Tey have five petals, equals in size,shape and color, a short spur and the throatand tube are more or le ss covered with hair.Most preys observed on traps were mosqui-toes and other smaller insects. It is said thatP. filifolia is a perennial but according tomy field observations it is an annual species

due to the changes in climate; perhaps withconstant water and humidity, it behavesas a biennial. In Caspers monograph hesaid that it is a perennial but this must bebased in herbarium records, so dependingof rain periods, which can change from oneyear to another, I believe that P. filifoliacanbe found in a wide space of time, but notthrough all year in the same place or at least


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not the same plants.My first trip searching for P. filifoliain Isla

de la Juventud was a failure, I did not findwhat I was looking for, but I could see oneof the most impressive landscapes of Cuba:the white sand savannas. Isla de la Juventudis a small island, but holds so many treasuresfor those who enjoy nature such as a hugemangrove forest to the South, extendedplains, pine forests (the old name of theisland was Isle of Pines), marble mountainsand caves with paintings made by the earlynatives. I visited Los Indios, an ecologicalreserve somewhat apart from civilization.o reach the center of the reserve, wherethe biological station was, we had to walkabout 8 kilometers from the nearest town,but worth the walk even when I did not findwhat I wanted. When I got there I was soimpressed with the whiteness of the soil fullyformed by silica sand, it looked like a mirrorreflecting sun rays so the site was very lumi-nous and extremely hot. Despite the fact that

it is very close to the coast and contains justa few trees mainly pines and palm trees, it isa wet ecosystem full of lichens, mosses andepiphytes such as orchids and bromeliads. Ifound some tiny Drosera capillarisPoir., butnot a single butterwort. Tis trip was in Aprilof 2009, by the end of the dry season, so Ifigured out that P. filifoliahas an annual lifecycle and is not a perennial as I had read.Tis idea was later confirmed by techniciansworking in the area, they said P. filifoliabe-comes like a pest (due to the abundance ofplants), but only when it is raining. Te factthat herbarium records exist for almost every

month of the year suggests that the species isdependent on rains rather than environmen-tal humidity. Tat time we also visited otherlocations in the vicinity of an old gold mineon the island but we couldnt find Pinguicula,the climate was extremely hot so we could seea lot of forest fires due to drought.

Four months later, in July, I returnedto the island full of hope because it was inthe middle of summer which means a lotof rain. Tis time we went directly to LosIndios and equipped to spend the night atthe biological station. Arriving to the localI dropped the bag and went to the savanna,from the distance it appeared to be the same,but closer it was an experience anyone wouldalways remember, thousands of plants of P.filifolia. Te sandy ground looked coveredwith a yellowish-green carpet of leaves. Iarrived just after a rain so the ground was

very wet even flooded at some places; hardto believe that it was the same place we hadseen four months ago. I started to study theplants, taking pictures of every detail thatseemed interesting to me, collecting samplesfor further studies in the lab, but I was a littledisappointed because I found no plants withflowers or fruits; just a single specimen witha bud, so I guessed in a short time plants

would be flowering. Tis time we confirmeda finding that my advisor (C.M. Panfet) hadseen some time ago: seedlings of P. filifoliashow a tiny rosette of spathulate leaves whenit germinates and before emitting the typicalfiliform leaves so far known for the species. Insome points I saw a large amount of seedlingsclustered, apparently in places where rainwater flows to the sea so I think the seeds arewashed away and deposited in these places,but I guess most of them wont survive becau-se I didnt see such clusters in mature plants.We also found D. capillaris and Utricularia

juncea Vahl, the latter in a puddle of rainwater.

I couldnt return to the island until De-cember, so I thought I had lost the floweringseason, but I was wrong; when arriving tothe reserve once more, the ground wascovered with plants but this time all ofthem with flowers and fruits. Te color of

In the background: habitat of Pinguicula filifolia, the white sand savannas in the dry season at Los indiosEcological Reserve, Isla de la Juventud. Above: seedlings of P. filifoliagrowing in silica sand, note the primary

rosette of spathulateleaves and the first fili form leaves. Below: circinate apex in P. filifolias young leaf


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Pinguicula filifoliaat Los Indios Ecological Reserve, Isla

de la Juventud: above, inflorescence development and, in

the box, the fruit; below, the subisolobe corolla

Pinguicula filifoliaat La Cana, Pinar del Ro

the flowers in this population varies fromwhite (sometimes with yellow throat), todeep blue, with a wide range of intermedia-te colors like pale blue, pale purple, violetand those flowers with lighter colors showdarker veins on the petals. Tere are recordsof plants with yellow flowers in another pro-tected area (La Caada) on the island, butwe couldnt go there. Tis time I collectedflowers, fruits and seeds for studies. Temost amazing finding on this trip wasnt P.filifoliabut Genlisea filiformisA.St.-Hil., theunique corkscrew plant recorded in Cuba.Te species, once considered a Cubanendemic (G. luteoviridis Wright) had notbeen found in the wild since 1980 so therewere suspicions that it was extinct in Cuba,but its finding deserves an exclusively topicabout this matter. P. fili foliawas once a widedistributed species on the island but todayit seems to have disappeared from variousplaces because of anthropogenization andchanges in the landscapes.

Last place where I found P. filif oliawas inPinar del Ro (Island of Cuba) at the eco-logical reserve Los Pretiles. It is anotherwhite sand savanna, but it has a differencewith those on Isla de la Juventud; here,beneath the layer of fine silica sand there aregreat deposits of peat and a petrified forest,thats the reason of the name Los Pretilesbecause the fossilized stems are arising bythe action of tide and look like pillars of anold pier. In the reserve are two main areas ofwhite sand savannas separated by a floodedland with a mangrove forest. Te first calledLa Cana is near to the biological station;

it is on land, but just a few meters separatedfrom the coast and the second is just abovethe petrified forest and is separated by theswamp so its known as the island of LosPretiles. In both areas there are the sameecological conditions that in Los Indioslike high humidity and temperatures andan excellent natural lighting, so we couldsee other species also present in Los Indios


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Habitat of Pinguicula filifoliaat La Cana, Pinar del Ro. The ground of silica sand is covered byP. filifolia, all ofthem with white flowers. In the box: plant of P. filifoliawith several inflorescences at the island of Los Pretiles,

Pinar del Ro

savanna. Here, the population of P. filifoliais larger than that at Los Indios and thereare clear differences between plants on thetwo islands. Te great amount of P. filifoliais stunning; here the plants are more robust,with several inflorescences at a time and allof them have white flowers. It seems not to

have differences between the two popula-tions at this reserve so I prefer to think it asa metapopulation (i.e. a set of populationsisolated geographically but connected bygenetic information exchange) but somestudies will show us the truth. We alsofound here some other CPs like D. capillaris,U. simulansPilg. and U. subulataL., mainlyin the coastal line sometimes in contact with

sea water what is really weird for carnivorousplants.We have found them growing amongthe pillars in Los Pretiles, in sand or ina mixture of sand and turf (petrified too);here the soil is wet of sea water that reachesthe plants during the high tide. Te swampbetween Los Pretiles and the inland is bra-

ckish with a river flowing to the sea, so thereis probably seepage of freshwater beneaththe sand and peat that, running from theinland draining into the sea, remove the saltfrom the soil and any salt that reaches theswamp by wind, spray or high tide. It wouldbe interesting to conduct further researchesin this area.


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Flowers ofPinguicula

filifolia

Left: color and shape diversity in flowers ofPinguicula filifolia. White flower right down is

from Los Pretiles, Pinar del Ro, the rest is all

from Los Indios, Isla de la Juventud

Right: lateral view of P. filifolias flowers; thefirst one from Los Pretiles, the others from

Los IndiosAbove: flowers of P. filifoliawith six corolla

lobes; white flower from Los Pretiles, violet

flower from Los Indios


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A mosquito captured by Pinguicula albidaat Sabanalamar, Pinar del Ro

Pinguicula albidaPinguicula albida is a wide distributed

species in Pinar del Ro province. It showsa great capacity of adaptation to the mostdifferent reliefs and ecological conditionspresent in that region. Te species occursfrom sea level to 400 m above sea level ina wide range of vegetation types such assavannas (never under sun rays), grassy flatsinside pine forests, gallery forests, in river

banks and borders of lagoons, almost alwaysin wet soils or near to, but not in the water.Te substrate for P. albida is very variabletoo; it survives in pure silica sand, sandypeat and even in serpentine soils at higherheights.

Pinguicula albida has a rosette of up to6 cm in diameter composed of pale greenleaves adpressed to the ground, they are verythin and translucent, suborbiculate to obo-vate with involute margins. Te flowers ariseamong young leaves usually one at a time.

Inflorescences stalks are about 6 to 13 cm inheight covered with glandular hairs. Te flo-wers are white with all petals almost equalsin size and shape, the spur is short and, asthe tube, is yellowish with brown lines inthe outside. Te tube and throat are yellowin the inside and are covered with hairs.

I searched for P. albidain five locations inPinar del Ro but I found it only in three ofthem. Various lowland places recorded for thespecies in herbarium material are nowadaysfarmed lands so I only found the plants insome preservation areas instead all recorded

places I visited. First place was San Ubaldo-Sabanalamar a managed flora reserve. It isa very low land near to the south coast, thesandy ground is very wet because the existinglagoons at the location. At the beginning, thisarea was established for crocodile conserva-tion, but now it is particularly valued for itspine forests and for the number of endemicplant species (more than a hundred). Tere


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In the background: Pinguicula albida among grasses in the pine forest at

Sabanalamar, Pinar del Ro. In the boxes: flowers of P. albida, to be noted itssubisolobe corolla

We can find the Cuban oak (QuercuscubanaA. Rich.), myco-heterotrophic plants(Burmanniaceae), orchids, and of coursecarnivorous plants and other species adaptedto poor soils and high humidity. Te lagoonsin the area are full of Nelumbo, Nymphaea,Nymphoides, Salvinia,Azollaand other aqua-tic plants instead of crocodiles, neverthelesswe saw some specimens too.

We spent two days in the reserve, and wewere lucky to find P. albidain two differentlandscapes: the sandy savanna near the fieldstation in San Ubaldo and the pine-oaksforest near the crocodile breeding farm inSabanalamar. San Ubaldo is a plain withnatural lagoons, palm trees and a few pinesand oaks. P. albida can be found dwellingin lighted places but never exposed to thesun rays, usually in partial shade created bypalms and shrubs.

Te ground is very wet sometimes floo-ded because the expansion of lagoons with

rains and the water table is shallow. In thisplace we found a single population, plantswere very variable in size even tiny oneswere flowering. I took samples for furtherstudies but we couldnt stay as long as I wan-ted because it is far from the city and thetransportation is scarce, so we went back toSbalo, a little town where we had stayed inthe house of a biologist friend who managedthe contact to enter the reserve.

Next day we woke up very early and wewent to the other side of the reserve calledSabanalamar. We arrived at the crocodile

farm and bordering the lakes we went intoa forest with dominance of pines, oaks andpalms. It is a much more shaded habitatthan the savanna, besides the paths createdby the reserves workers; the forest is quitedense so we only found P. albidain the trailand in another place where the vegetationis sparser. At first sight there does not seemto be any differences between these plants

and those from the savanna, but subsequentstudies revealed morphological differencesbetween plants from the two ecosystems.

Te third place where we saw P. albidawas not scheduled for that purpose. We hadgone to the ecological reserve Los Pretilessearching for P. filifolia and upon arrival wewere informed that we could also find P.albidanot too far, but outside the boundaries

of the protected area. It was a great surprise,one of the field technicians told us he hadrecently seen some plants that matched thedescription we did. P. albidawere growing ina plain called Sabana de Camarones, it is asavanna covered by grass with a few shrubswhere the river Camarones flows.

I am not sure if it was because we were inthe winter, but the soil was not very humidas we saw in other locations for the speciesand here plants were totally exposed to sun.Anyway, here the species lives under thegrasses and only the inflorescence is visible

above the green carpet. Te soil is a mixtureof sand with peat, very dark and P. albidaisvery small, even those with flowers and fruits.Tis place is a new record for the species andit seems to be adapted to these conditionssomehow different from other locations wevisited.

It is known that P. albidais (or maybe weshould say was?) wide distributed in Pinar delRo, from white sand savannas to serpentinemountains, but we couldnt find the speciesin all recorded habitats. So, I guess the speciesis an annual one too or at least it is dependenton specific climate conditions to germinate

and survive like P. filifolia.

In Pinar del Ro we have visited otherplaces with historical records of P. filifoliaand P. albida, but even in protected areaslike Viales National Park and Los Paredo-nes El Punto, a managed flora reserve, wecouldnt find it. Te area where species wererecorded in Viales is too modified because


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the local people are extracting sand for con-struction, so the place looks like an arid zoneloosing the native vegetation. Te other placeis in the vicinity of the dam El Punto andaccording to an expert from the Pinar del RoBotanic Garden is also too modified due to

agriculture, cattle and presence of invasivespecies. In both places we found U. subulataand D. capillaris, in Viales we also foundthese species growing together with U. pusillaand in El punto growing with U. gibbaL.but not Pinguicula.

In this page: lateral view of flowers and fruit of Pinguicula albida, a single plant can produce severalinflorescences at a t ime. Opposite page: above,P. albidaat Sabanalamar, Pinar del Ro; below, habitat

of P. albidaat San Ubaldo, Pinar del Ro, where it grows in the shade created by palm trees on avery wet soil


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Pinguicula cubensisPinguicula cubensis is an extremely rare

species only known from the type localityin Pinar del Ro province. It occurs nearthe top of the Cajlbana mountain range ata height of 220 m above sea level on per-manently damp serpentine soil close to thewaterfall of the river Las vueltas. Tereare several plant species strictly endemic atthis location, so I guess the climate con-

ditions are very specific and a bit differentfrom other mountains in the range. In theoriginal description of the species it is saidthat P. cubensisis an annual-biennal(?) andaccording to observations of a friend bota-nist, the population remains through all yeardue to the replacement of individuals, buteach plant lives about one year. P. cubensishas a rosette of about 10 cm in diameter.Te leaves are oblong-lanceolate, suberect,with margin revolute and somehow involutein young leaves of adult plants, yellowishgreen or reddish when exposed to sun rays.Inflorescences are up to 4 and about 17 cmin height. Te corolla is white or pale rose,two-lipped with petals more or less unequaland a short spur. P. cubensis flower is diffe-rent from other West and Central Pinguiculadue to its zigomorphic pattern. Te tube isgreenish yellow with purple or brown linesand yellow inside, densely covered of hairs.

Te location of P. cubensisis inside a pro-tected area of managed resources known asMil Cumbres but its somehow difficultto find the plants because the species hasbeen recorded only in one mountain of the

range and also because the difficulty level toarrive to the place is a little high. Te path toreach the top of the mountain is very abrupt,almost all the way is through the river whichis full of slippery rocks that sometimes fallsrolling downstream. Te local of the speciesis exactly inside and beside of the waterfallat the top of the mountain. Ten I think itneeds a lot of water and a high humidity.

In the background: habitat of Pinguicula cubensisin theMil Cumbres protected area of managed resources,

Cajlbana mountain range, Pinar del Ro; here duringthe rainy season runs a waterfall. In the boxes: below,

P. cubensisgrowing on a layer of a lgae on wet serpen-

tine rock (note reddish leaves because sun exposure);above, P. cubensison serpentine rock


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Te top of the mountain is an open areaof rocky walls of serpentine and the wallwhere P. cubensisgrows is exposed to directsun light about afternoon. In Cajlbanamountain range, the temperatures are almostthe same during all year (about 21-28 C)due to the altitude and vegetation, but atnight it could be lower and humidity is in-creased up to 90%. Te best time for seeingvis winter which is a drought period so theriver is somehow more easily accessible. In

the drought period, the river almost disap-pears and water just drains through rocks.Tis seems to be the right time for seeds togerminate because when I visited the placein January I found many plants but just afew adults with flowers and almost no fruit.

After two unsuccessful attempts I couldreach the site and I was really surprised abouthow plants can survive there being practically

washed away as their roots are poorly develo-ped, but it seemed to be clinging to the layerof algae growing on the rocks. It was amazingto see a large number of plants almost in ver-tical position in the wall, its yellowish greenleaves contrasting with the dark rocks. It wasa bit difficult to collect some samples becausethe soil is a steep slope full of wet rock frag-ments making it quite slippery. One questionthat still remains without explanation to meis why the number of plants and seedlings

is larger in the top of the rocky wall whenmost of the seeds should be brought by waterdownstream? I guess that P. cubensisis a spe-cies strictly adapted to those ecological con-ditions on the top of the mountain becauseon my way up and down the river I didnt seeany other specimen. Most of the species li-ving close to P. cubensisare endemics, some ofthem can be found only at this place and in

Opposite page: Pinguicula cubensisgrowing ona layer of algae on wet serpentine rock. This

page, clockwise, from top left: the short andthick spur of P. cubensis, its zigomorphic corolla

and a captured mosquito


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those conditions. It is known that serpentinefloras are subsets of species strictly adaptedto specific soil conditions usually toxic forthe majority of the plants, but Cajlbana iscompiled of serpentine mountains, so it isvery weird not to have another population ofP. cubensisaround. Perhaps the set of specificlocal conditions like humidity, temperature,sunlight, soil, etc. is the key for plants to sur-vive here, but maybe also the lack of specific

dispersal mechanisms capable of carry theseed to other distant sites is the explanationfor the existence of just one population.

In all populations visited and sampled forthe three species we found a lot of thunder-flies (Tysanoptera) inside the flowers butnot in traps, so we guessed those insects hada function as pollinators or they were justnectar thieves as it has been described forother species. We also found in all popu-lations, except for P. cubensis, flowers withsix petals and sometimes two spurs, thesemalformed flowers maybe were showing thegenetic background of the species

13 recognized species of Pinguiculagrowin Cuba, all of them endemics and extremelyvulnerable because of its limited range andspecific habitat. Te main threat for westernCuban species is habitat modification dueto agricultural activities in low lands andmining in quartz deposits, this have possiblyextirpated some populations to date. Afterthese activities it is very difficult to restorethe local ecology because it changes the spe-cies composition and increases the numberof fast-growing exotic species that invadeand colonize the area competing with nati-

ves. Overcollection may be also a threat, butsince the populations are in protected areas it

is almost impossible to reach them withoutauthorization of government agencies. Tereis also the possibility of exploitation of mi-neral resources in the mountains where P.albida and P. cubensis grow, like they havebeen doing at locations where we find somespecies from eastern Cuba, but I hope thisdoesnt happen because we will lose the uni-que known population of the latter. Just afew Cuban species are cultivated around the

world by CPs lovers and none of them are inCuba. Te future of Cuban Pinguiculais onour hands, so we are responsible for keepingthese little jewels of nature and evolution.

AcknowledgementsI would sincerely like to thank all those

who helped me during my trips, speciallyYosbel Lazo Roger and Daniel Ryed Wrightfor getting the permissions to visit Los In-dios Ecological Reserve (Isla de la Juventud)and for all field assistance, the biologist Ka-tiuska Izquierdo Mederos for coordinatingthe visits to San Ubaldo-Sabanalamar andespecially Roberto Novo Carb from Pinardel Rio Botanical Garden who arrangedmost of the expeditions, accompanied me,and shared his extensive knowledge aboutthe geological and natural history of westCuba. Tanks also Andreas Fleischmannfor his help for the identification of Utri-cularia species and Pedro Luiz Souza forimproving the english on early manuscript.

ReferencesR. Berazan, F. Areces, J. C. Lazcano &

L. R. Gonzlez, 2005. Lista roja de la flora

vascular cubana. Documentos 4, Jardn Bot-nico Atlntico de Gijn.

Species Endemic IUCN* Habit**

LENTIBULARIACEAE Rich.

PinguiculaL.

P. albidaWright ex Griseb. X CR T

P. benedictaBarnh. X CR T

P. bisseiCasper X NE T(L)

P. caryophyllaceaCasper X NE T

P. cubensisUrquiola & Casper X CR T(L)

P. filifoliaWright ex Griseb. X CR T

P. infundibuliformisCasper X NE T

P. jackiiBarnh. X CR T(L)

P. jaraguanaCasper X NE T

P. lignicolaBarnh. X CR E

P. lippoldiiCasper X NE T

P. lithophyticaC. Panfet & P. Temple X NE L

P. toldensisCasper X NE T

GenliseaA. St.-Hil.

G. filiformis A.St.-Hil. NE T

UtriculariaL.

U. breviscapa Wright ex Griseb. CR A

U. cornuta Michx. T(A)

U. fimbriata Kunth T

U. foliosa L. AU. gibba L. EN A

U. hydrocarpa Vahl CR A

U. incisa (A. Rich) Alain X CR A

U. junceaVahl T(A)

U. olivacea Wright ex Griseb. CR A

U. purpurea Walter CR A

U. pusilla Vahl T(A)

U. resupinata B. D. Greene ex Bigelow CR T(A)

U. simulansPilger CR T

U. subulata L. T(A)

DROSERACEAE L.

DroseraL.

D. capillaris Poir. CR T

D. brevifolia Pursh VU T

D. intermedia Hayne CR T

D. moaensis C. Panfet X VU T

* IUCN categories taken from Lista roja de la flora vascular cubana, Berazain et al., 2005.

CR Critically endangered, EN Endangered, VU Vulnerable, NE Not evaluated.

** A Aquatic, E Epiphytic, L Litophytic, T Terrestrial.

Carnivorous species in Cuba

Yoannis Domnguez was born in 1976 on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. He graduated with a BSc in

Biology (2000) and later got a MSc in Plant Biolog y (2008) at the Uni-versity of Havana. He taught Biology for two years and later (2004)

he began to teach Botany a t the Agrarian University of Havana wherehe also did researches about Cuban native orchids, in vitro culture of

endangered species, management and use of exotic invasive species

and Cuban plant biodiversity. Since 2010 he has been working ona project about dynamics and genetic structure of Cuban Pinguicu-

laspecies populations to get a PhD at the University of Mogi dasCruzes, SP, Brazil.


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Petrified forest at Los Pretiles Ecological Reserve, Pinar del Ro

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