PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

I have done considerable traveling in search of rare plants so a friend suggested I do a series of articles documenting the adventures of a modern day plant explorer. This is a topic that I have never written on before and I think it's an exciting one. My hope is that HERBERTIA readers will come to see what is involved in bringing new species into cultivation.

During the last fifteen years I have traveled extensively in the pursuit of learning more about what I think is a most interesting topic -- Natural History. Although I am more involved with plants than other organisms at this time, I am interested in all aspects of natural history. When I was a graduate student at the University of California at Los Angeles twenty years ago, my main interest was insects, especially beetles. Even then I was interested in unusual plants and was strongly influenced by the writings of Bob Foster and Charlie Glass in the Cactus and Succulent Journal. Just a few years earlier, they had found so many new plants in Mexico that I dreamed of going to exotic places and seeing plants, insects, reptiles, people, etc. that were new to me.

About this time Frank Horwood, a leading horticulturist and plant explorer from England, moved to Southern California where I live and we soon became friends. He was ready to go on another trip to Africa and mentioned that I might want to join him. You have to understand that prior to this I had never even been on an airplane. I had driven several times to southeastern Arizona to study their unique insect fauna but I had never even been out of the U.S.A. except for a few trips to northern Baja California. Frank's proposition sounded wonderful but totally out of my reach. This is a good example of what limited thinking will do to you. Because of this invitation from Frank my horizons expanded and I now have been to Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana) seven times, made several trips to remote locales in southern Mexico in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz as well as other parts of Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Central America and several other places. All of this in the short time span of just 15 years. I recently got back from a trip to northern Idaho just to take a rest from traveling.

When all the well known early plant explorers set off for far away places in the early days of plant exploration, the world was a different world from the one we now live in. People faced extreme logistical problems in traveling. They often had to travel for weeks or even months by sea to go where we now can get to in one day by airplane. One thing that has not changed, however, is the fact that there are many unexplored or relatively unexplored places still left to see. Today we also have some new problems that did not face the early explorers. We now have rules and regulations regarding what we can and can not bring back. Anyone who plans to travel in search of plants or animals must now deal with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and in some cases with the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Much has been said and written regarding the trouble that can be caused by the U.S.D.A. when it comes to plant inspections but my experience has been that if you know what you are doing and follow the regulations, most of your problems are solved before they have a chance to happen. I have had a few unhappy experiences with the U.S.D.A. but only a few. I think that the real problem is that the inspectors are continuously rotated so that it is impossible to build up any kind of trusting relationship with them. Another problem that results from this rotating is that there are many new and inexperienced inspectors out there. In any case, most of our agricultural pests are non-native species that have been inadvertently imported into the country and are now responsible for huge financial losses as a result of their importation. When I bring plants into the country I always spend a great deal of time cleaning and inspecting them. If one snail is found the whole lot probably will be fumigated or destroyed. This is also the case if species of scale insects which are not already here are found. When I bring in plants from tropical parts of Mexico, I start out by taking each and every plant and shaking it vigorously to knock off any insects that it may harbor. I even cut a few open to see what may be inside the plant. All soil is thoroughly washed off the plants. I then go over the plants again to see if I can spot any scale insect species that can not be knocked off the plants. If I find any scale, I will scrape it off if it is a mild infestation. Plants that have a heavy infestation of scale are discarded. Even though I then take all the plants and dip them into an insecticide solution, it is still a good idea to discard plants with heavy scale infestations. It is not worth it to try and argue with the inspectors as to whether or not the scale is dead or alive.

After I dip the plants in the insecticide, I let them dry thoroughly so that no fungi will start growing on them. Fungi are another cause to have the plants confiscated. The last thing I do is pack up the plants into several thick plastic bags and seal the bags with tape. If there is something that I have missed, it will be confined to the bag. This is very important because if one pest is found in the shipment, the entire shipment will be treated as if it were infested. If I keep any potential pest isolated, I have a good chance of only having problems with that one bag and not the whole shipment. If a pest problem is found when the plants are inspected the inspectors will then let me know what action will be taken. In some cases, they will allow me to come down to the inspection station and dip the plants in an insecticide that they prescribe. Sometimes the plants must be fumigated with methyl bromide which will almost always kill any soft-leaved species such as bromeliads. If the worst happens the plants will be destroyed. Because of my knowledge of entomology, I can keep on top of what is happening at the inspection station and I've been able to prevent problems before they go too far. If all of this sounds like a great deal of extra work, it is. It is very necessary, however. Imagine what it must feel like to go to all the trouble to get the plants and then have them destroyed.

Some plants and animals are considered endangered species and are regulated by a treaty which is called C.I.T.E.S. (Congress on International Trade in Endangered Species) through the U.S. Department of the Interior. As the U.S.D.A. already inspects plants when they come into the U.S.A., they have been given the job of enforcing C.I.T.E.S. regulations. Many plants are not regulated by C.I.T.E.S. (at least not at this time) so there is no problem with them in this respect. However, many of the groups of plants that I am most interested in, such as cycads, orchids and several types of succulents, are regulated by C.I.T.E.S. (that is, they are considered to be endangered). Importing these plants takes at the very least lots of red tape and often there is no legal way to do it. I should also mention that these are laws in the United States. All other countries have their own unique laws which have to be dealt with.

The worst problem I had as far as importing plants was when I was in Hawaii and shipped some plants from there to California. They never got here. After some heavy-duty investigation, I learned that the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture had confiscated them at the airport and destroyed them. I was told that they were gone and there was nothing more that could be done. I found out they knew the plants were rare because they contacted several botanic gardens to see if there were any recent thefts. I have a feeling that those plants are now in someone's collection.

Because many of the things that I am looking for often are found in remote areas, I have frequently been confronted by various officials wanting to know what I am doing. This has resulted in a full spectrum of responses--all the way from some very helpful people to having a cocked forty-five or automatic rifle put in my face. The concept of due process is not a universal one and it is best to know the customs of the country you are in.

When I first went to Africa I knew nothing about photography but I did know that I wanted to bring back pictures for lectures, articles and my personal use. I talked to various people and learned what I could about photography and then decided on a 35mm Olympus single lens reflex (sir) camera that was totally manual in its operation and very light in weight. After walking mile after mile, I appreciated the light weight and I thought that the fact that all the settings were manual gave me total freedom to be creative with my photographs. That camera took many hundreds of very nice pictures but the time came when I wanted something better. I now have a Nikon camera that is totally automatic (including the focus) but with a manual override for everything. The camera is heavy and particularly intolerant of being dropped in the mud but it has made a big difference in the quality of my photographs. Several professional photographers told me that my Olympus was a perfectly good camera and not to worry about getting something else, however, the features on the Nikon really do make a difference. This is especially true when it comes to photographing animals which don't sit still for very long. Looking for plants and animals and wanting to seriously photograph them are really two different endeavors which is to say that good photography takes a lot of time. This is something that one must come to terms with in the time allotted.

I am often asked about the problem of diseases and dangerous animals. Tropical diseases are something that must be taken into consideration but they are not so much of a problem as most people think. I have been in malaria areas and watched the mosquitoes sucking blood out of my arm but I have never come down with malaria. I have also been in close contact with people who had tuberculosis but I have never developed tuberculosis. On the other side of the coin, I have come down with some severe cases of dysentery and flu-like diseases but nothing really life threatening.

Regarding dangerous animals, they have never been a problem. I am constantly looking for animals and consider it a privilege to encounter them. I have been way too close to rhinos, elephants, crocodiles, lions and poisonous snakes as well as other animals that most people fear but I have never had any problem develop out of these contacts. It has taken a lot of work to find these animals and I think that most people would not even see many of them. One of my most unique experiences was to walk into a rain forest at night and just sit there. Many people consider this crazy but I have found it to be one of the most peaceful and enchanting experiences I have ever had.

Anyway, back to my first trip which was to South Africa with Frank Horwood, about fifteen years ago. Frank and I got to the airport to discover that we were ready to leave on the first day of a strike by the air traffic controllers. The airport was in total chaos and many of the flights had been canceled. We were to fly to New York and then on to South Africa and our flight to New York had been canceled. We were able to book a flight on another airline if we could get there on time. Of course, the other airline was at the opposite side of the airport and was due to take off very soon. Frank and I took off running and it soon became apparent that Frank, being a heavy smoker, would not be able to make it. He was coughing like crazy and it looked like he was going to die on the spot. I don't know how I did it, but I took Frank's luggage as well as my own so Frank did not have anything to carry and we were able to get to the other terminal just in time to make the flight. The next thing I knew, Frank and I were on the plane and on our way to the first of many adventures to come.

PART TWO

Our plane landed in Johannesburg in the evening. The customs check was easy and straightforward, a welcome relief from the customs officials of some of the countries I have visited. About an hour later, we took another flight to Cape Town which brought our total traveling time to about 24 hours. I would much rather spend a day in 100"F heat and 100% humidity than stay on a plane that long. We checked into a nice hotel for the night and were off next day to look for plants.

Finding plants can be extremely easy or nearly impossible, depending on how rare the plants are that you are looking for, and whether or not you are interested in whole groups of plants or just one particular species. There are many incredibly interesting plants in most parts of South Africa that, if you don't restrict yourself too much, you can't miss. My main interests were cycads and succulents which usually are found in drier areas. The first place we visited was the Cape Nature Reserve and Cape Point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans come together. This is a very wet area but still full of interesting species. There we found Protea cynaroides (the national flower of South Africa) in bloom along with several geophytic orchids including Disa and Eulophia species. As wet as it was, there were also several succulents such as Crassula and Euphorbia species. Going higher up the slopes of nearby Table Mountain it gets wetter and wetter but there were still geophytic orchids and many bulbs. It was also interesting to see large numbers of baboons this close to town.

When people ask me about the dangers of the wildlife in Africa, the baboon and ostrich are at the top of my list. I have been able to find many of larger animals in Africa but I have never had any real trouble with them. Baboons and ostriches can mean trouble, however. The male ostrich is very aggressive and can rip your abdomen open with his powerful legs and large claws--as a result they are highly respected by the local people. The trouble with baboons is that where they are found near large groups of people, they lose their fear of humans and can bite. I once saw a Xosha woman in the Eastern Cape of South Africa have a bag of chips she was holding snatched by a female baboon. She responded by hitting the animal in the face! She did not, however, get her chips back as the animal ran away. There is no way I would have hit that animal and I doubt if she would have either if her chips had been snatched by a large male baboon.

When I first went to South Africa, I had no interest in bulbs at all but that soon changed. I think that most people tend to be impressed by the flowers of bulbs but I have found that there are many species that are attractive (or weird, some people say) when not in bloom. Several species of Gethyllis (which do have beautiful flowers, too), some Albuca and several other genera fall into this category. There also are many larger species of bulbs that are of interest to succulent collectors. Examples of these include Boophane, Brunsvigia and Haemanthus. During the course of seven trips to South Africa, I have found many interesting bulb species that remain unidentified to this day.

The second day, we visited the Karoo Botanic Garden and its curator at that time, Bruce Bayer. Mr. Bayer is probably the world's leading expert of the genus Haworthia and is very knowledgeable regarding the genus Oxalis and many other groups of plants. The Karoo Botanic Garden is at Worcester, more or less northeast of Cape Town--inland and much drier than Cape Town. In fact, the word Karoo means "the dry land" in one of the local languages. We were fortunate to be given some of Mr. Bayer's very limited time to be shown some of the Karoo species in habitat. One particularly interesting species was Lithops comptonii. This is one of the members of the mesemb family [Mesembryanthemaceae] which mimic rocks and as a result are hard to find. Many of these species are localized in their distribution and, in addition, very cryptic. I had not been interested in mesembs but started looking for them anyway. After all, how hard can it be to spot plants when you are walking among them? Right? I could not find even one and only was able to see one when Bruce practically pushed my face right into the plants.

I since have found that a number of plant species, especially geophytes can go undetected even if one is standing right on top of them. This was the case when I later went to find Euphorbia ernestii in the Eastern Cape. I knew I was at the correct locality because I was there with someone who had seen the plants in that location before. As we were getting into the car to leave, I saw one right next to the car in ground we had been tromping over. This is not only the case with small plants like Lithops and some Euphorbia species but some larger plants as well. A friend once took me to see Encephalartos altensteinii, a large cycad. This species grows in the grasslands of the Eastern Cape, often next to rivers. The grass is about a foot high and the cycad often is at least six feet tall. I could not see the first plant until I was about ten feet from it and it was pointed out to me because the plants are hidden in the very narrow strip of forest that grows along the river. Needless to say, finding geophytes in their dormant season when everything is under ground is not easy.

This brings up another problem one encounters when looking for plants in places such as southern Africa which have summer and winter rainfall areas. The south western part of South Africa is a winter rainfall area whereas the rest of the country gets rain in the summer or all year around. Not only must this be taken into account when growing plants from these climatically diverse areas, but it is a critical factor in reestablishing plants for cultivation in the northern hemisphere where the seasons are reversed. For example, a winter-growing plant sent from South Africa to the USA in June will be starting to grow but will encounter summer conditions here at that time and may stop growing and possibly die. As you probably can see, there are several possible combinations for potential disaster here. Some species (oftentimes larger species) don't seem to mind when you move them whereas others (many irids for example) are especially sensitive to this rapid change of hemispheres and, therefore, seasonal growing conditions.

PART THREE

As I have been to Africa seven times, it is not that I have nothing more to say about this continent, but I just got back from Ecuador and that is what is on my mind now. After going to Africa several times, I started going to Latin America. First I made several trips to southern Mexico, then to Costa Rica, Venezuela, Peru and finally, Ecuador.

Although Africa and Latin America are different experiences, I have enjoyed them both. I would like to point out from the start, however, that I have always felt that Africa was a safer place to be. In complete opposition to some of my experiences in Mexico, my experiences in Ecuador have been totally positive. Because of the fact that I was traveling in what are considered as zones of national security, I was constantly being stopped by the police and the military. In this case zones of national security were near the Colombian border and the drug problems, and near the Peruvian border and the border dispute between Peru and Ecuador. I was never mistreated or threatened by an Ecuadorian policeman or soldier. In most cases these people were very friendly, asked a few questions, checked my passport, and let me pass. If I needed help, it was freely given. I never had a gun pointed at me, which I have found to be all too common in Mexico. Ecuadorian people were friendly and helpful.

Because of the devastating effect of the El Nino rains, I was warned not to go to Ecuador at the time I went (February 1998). As Dennis Cathcart of Tropiflora Nursery was so encouraging, I decided to ignore these warnings and go anyway. Although I had some close calls with problems related to the heavy rains, I am glad that I did go. The El Nino effect caused droughts in areas of normally heavy rainfall and flooding of normally dry areas. Friends going to Ethiopia and Tanzania this summer had to leave because the rains were so heavy that travel was impossible. Because of the improved economy of northern Ecuador (gold and oil) the roads are much better than those in the southern part of the country. My trip did, however, all work out.

After a flight from Los Angeles to Panama City and then from Panama City to Quito, we were in Ecuador without incident. Quito is very high and polluted and the combination of the altitude and pollution gave me a raging headache. After we rented a four wheel drive vehicle in Quito we got out of the city into cleaner air and lower altitudes where I felt much better.

Ecuador is a small country but because of the tremendous variation in altitude there are many life zones. There are lowland forests on the Pacific coast and the Amazonian forests to the east. There is permanent snow on many higher peaks of the Andes Mountains and many beautiful cloud forests on the slopes. In addition to this there are also deserts in the south and very dry areas in the north.

Our first destination was Lita, a small town located in the northwest area not too far from Colombia. This area is famous for orchids, bromeliads, aroids, ferns, etc., but my main interest here was cycads. As we left Quito for Lita we decided to stop in Otavalo which has the reputation of having the largest Indian market in South America. Like any local market anywhere in the world, you never know what you will find. Unfortunately, the day we were there there was not much of interest with the exception of many different groups of Indians. As Ecuador is the home of the Jiavaro Indians who are famous for their ability to make shrunken heads, there were reproductions of these in the market. They were not well made. On our way from Otavalo to Lita we passed through a dense cloud forest with many beautiful plants and then through a dry area with Tillandsia secunda, T. recuwata, and succulent Oxalis and Jatropha species. In the cloud forest we found a beautiful Xanthosoma species, many nice bromeliads and on the side of cliffs grew an amaryllid with petiolate leaves. This is probably a Eucrosia species, but I will have to wait until they bloom to be sure. This was all while driving during a relatively short span of time. Because of the fact that if you drive any distance at all in Ecuador you are going to change altitude, this scenario would be repeated many times. For a real taste treat we passed a shack where there was a woman roasting what looked like chicken on a spit. We found she was not cooking chicken but guinea pig! These animals are native to this area and are frequently eaten.

The town of Lita is along a dirt road at an altitude of about 2,000 feet which is higher than a coastal lowland forest and lower than a cloud forest. This is normally an extremely wet area but because of El Nino it was fairly dry when we were there. This was fortunate as I was not looking forward to driving on that muddy wet road. The hotel we stayed in was a real experience. Although I have been all over the world and stayed in some places that I would rather not stay in again, I have never really stayed in a hotel that I would call a real dump. That is until Lita. This unconditionally qualified as the worst. The local vegetation, however, made up for this (just barely).

One often hears of the deforestation taking place in western Ecuador. The bad news is that this is true, but the good news is that there is a lot of forest left. After a night in Lita we traveled further west on the only road. The fact that this was the only road is significant as it is easy to get lost in Ecuador. More on this later. We crossed the Rio Mira on the new bridge. We were fortunate that the new bridge was there as the river was deep at this time and we would never have been able to cross. We drove further toward the coast and found Zamia gentryi and a little further away we found Zamia roezlii which is more common a bit north in Colombia. With these localized distributions, one wonders how long these species will last here. There were also several palms, aroids, ferns, orchids and bromeliads. One most interesting plant here is the bromeliad Guzmania graminifolia. which looks like one of the narrow leaved tillandsias such as T. aruji, an unusual form for a Guzmania.

Next on the agenda was the paramo at El Angel. Paramo is a tundra-like area found in the higher altitudes in South America. The elevation is about 10,000 feet and the vegetation is characterized by long coarse grass, Puya species, and the unusual giant composite, Espaletia. This particular area is close to the Colombian border. We went through another dry area with thousands of Tillandsia secunda and other Tillandsia species, and then began to climb in altitude. Even though it was a national park and well publicized on the way into town, we were lucky we found it on the first try. There were (as always) few signs, many forks in the road and few locals who even knew this area existed. I think that it was just pure luck we did not get lost. Before we got to the paramo there were many interesting high altitude shrubs, bromeliads and dwarf perennials such as a beautiful dwarf Aquilegia species. I found the famous red datura, Brugmansia sanguinea, in bloom and in seed. The seeds have germinated well and it will be interesting to see if this plant can live where I do, near the ocean in Southern California. We also found a beautiful orange-red Bomarea in bloom. There is almost a line drawn where the paramo starts with virtually no transition zone.

After a night in Ibarra, we were off down the west coast to the town of Santo Domingo de Los Collaros, which is named after the Colorado Indians. They are an unusual group of people in that the men put a thick reddish-brown paste in their hair and tattoo pictures of shoes, belts, bracelets, etc. on themselves. We were on the way to the biological station further south at Rio Palenque to see the cycad Zamia lindenii but had to stay the night in Santo Domingo. It started to rain so hard that we could barely see where we were going. At one point the water was flowing so fast across the road that I thought we would be swept off. Fortunately, we were not, and got to a hotel with a large covered outdoor eating area. The good part was that where we ate was dry but as the roof was made of corrugated metal, it was very noisy. The noise made it hard to sleep. This lasted all night and when I woke up, it was still raining. I did not want to get out of bed to face the rain but then my friend was knocking at the door and asking me to get up. I couldn't believe my eyes when I answered the door. The sun was out and my friend wanted to know why I was not outside. I told him that with all the noise, I thought it was still raining and he said "Look where your room is!" I looked outside and I was right next to a large river that was making all kinds of noise!

After breakfast we went south to Rio Palenque and found a locked cable across the road. We asked the people who lived in the house by the road where our friends were, and were told that they were back in Quito and that there was no way we were going to get in. After I got home, I called a friend who stays at Rio Palenque and told him what had happened. He said he was there when I was and that I had been misinformed by the locals. So much for that.

The next place we visited was an area further south near Santa Isabele. This area, although dry, was described to me as "plant heaven". It is an extremely interesting area.. Some parts are so dry that almost nothing was growing. There were many xerophytic plants growing in other areas. There were also Tillandsia species, such as T. mima, T. disticha, T. latifolia, and a small form of T. tecorum. In addition, there were several other fascinating plants such as Puya, succulent Oxalis species, succulent Peperomia species, Euphorbia, Jatropha, and an amaryllid with petiolate leaves.

We spent the night in El Pasaje. We were miserable as it was extremely hot. I wanted to make a collect phone call home but could get no one to let me use their phone. They said that even if I made a collect call, the phone company was controlled by the Mafia and that they would wind up paying for the call plus extra charges.

We then traveled to the Loja area in southern Ecuador, a part of the country which received the most damage from the El Nino storms. There were several roads that were impassable because bridges had washed out. As luck would have it, whenever we got to an area where the bridge was out, a temporary bridge had just been set up by the military and we were able to pass. Sometimes this required a long wait but we were able to go on. Recently several people and a large number of animals were killed by floods in southern Ecuador. In addition to this there was an increase in the incidences of various diseases such as cholera. One area in particular smelled bad because of the decaying bodies of animals in the water. This did present a problem in relation to one of the local customs. In a few days the yearly carnival was about to start and it was common practice at this time to throw water on passing cars. Some people just used a can whereas others had more sophisticated devices. Once, when we were driving through a particularly foul smelling area with the car windows rolled down, someone got me right in the face with nearly a gallon of the local water. I thought for sure that I would come down with some horrible disease because of this dousing, but, luckily, I did not.

After spending the night in Loja we got up the next day and went to Zamora, at the base of the Condor Mountains, one of the most inaccessible and unexplored areas of Ecuador. We were warned to be careful in this area but did not encounter any difficulties. This is really a wonderful area with extensive cloud forests and many new species have been and will be discovered here. Once you get past Zamora the roads get very bad. A separate trip dedicated to this area would be necessary to see even a little of it. Even so, we saw many wonderful plants in the immediate vicinity of Zamora. There were many orchids, including a beautiful Epidendrum, a Pleurothalis and an Oncidium. Blooming Guzmania and Vresia could be seen in the trees with many other bromeliads. Someone had moved a magnificent Vresia species next to a little church. The plant had a branched red inflorescence that was about six feet high. There were lots of interesting ferns, fungi, mosses, and even the plant that is used to make the red die for lipstick. On the way out we found a beautiful purple-flowering tree and a Calceolaria species in full bloom found only in one spot, right at the summit, and growing in a permanent seep covered with liverworts. Not exactly the habitat I could easily re-create at home.

Several people in Loja told us that we should go to the nearby town of Vilcabamba. This was described as a major tourist attraction because of the mineral water baths. As we were a bit tired, we decided to go. When we got there we could not find the baths and started to ask the locals. We had a hard time finding anyone who knew what we were talking about! We finally found the baths on our own, by chance. There was a locked gate in front and we could see that the place had been abandoned. We tried to drive around from the other side and wherever we went there was someone to tell us to leave. When we got back to town we were rewarded with two beautiful orchids growing on a palm tree. These were Cattleya maxima and a species of Stanhopia, both in full bloom.

One of my main objectives on this trip was to find and collect specimens of Tillandsa marnier-lepostallei. This is a large gray-leaf species which is rare in collections. I knew that it grew on cliffs in dry areas but that was all. After some inquiries, I was told that it could be found near Celica which is south of Loja. As we drove toward Celica it got drier and drier, which was a good sign. We found two species of Agave, Opuntia, a Bougainvillea species with orange flowers, Jatropha species (possibly J. macrantha) with large red flowers and several other xerophytic plants. There were also some spectacular Ceiba trees, some with huge green trunks. As we got closer to Celica, we were stopped at a military checkpoint, probably because we were getting close to Peru. The guard was polite and, after the usual questions and passport check, he let us pass. Then we started to go higher and higher in elevation and eventually entered a cloud forest. When we got to Celica, we were surrounded by cloud forest, which is not the habitat of Tillandsia marnier-lepostallei. There were several roads leaving Celica in different directions. We tried them all and they all led to more cloud forest. It was so wet that there were several species of epiphytes growing on the telephone wires as well as all over the trees. In addition to bromeliads such as Vresia somnians, there were several beautiful orchids in bloom, gesneriads, ferns and lots of mosses. We had obviously been given the wrong locality.

As we drove back to Loja, it became drier and drier again. There were blooming plants of Vresia espinosa (which looks like a gray-leaf Tillandsia) and also Tillandsia straminea. We saw a cliff face behind the roadside vegetation with what looked like a few large bromeliads growing on them and stopped to investigate. After a short hike we found ourselves surrounded by Tillandsia marnier-lepostallei. Most of the plants were huge but there were several small, transportable size plants. Most of the plants were growing higher on the cliffs but we did not have to climb too high to get to the lower ones. In this area were a wide petiolate leaved amaryllid, a Dracunculus species, and other Tillandsia species. This is the only place we ever saw T. marnier-lepostallei growing and we were lucky that we stumbled upon it.

As we wanted to check out some perennials that we had seen earlier, we started back via Giron and then the road back to Santa Isabel. We climbed higher in elevation and suddenly saw that we were not the only ones on the road. There were two men on bicycles who were making a trip across the Andes! We stopped at an oak-like tree that was covered in at least five species of Tillandsia and a thick growth of lichens. As we climbed higher, we came to Paramo vegetation, with Puya species and the typical long coarse gray grass. As we descended, we came across several beautiful perennials such as a blue Salvia, a yellow Calceolaria, a red Fuchsia, and more Epidendrum and Pitcairnia.

We were now working our way back to Quito by driving along the inter-Andean valley. We spent the night in Rio Bamba and had the usual problem with hot water. It seems that hot water for showers is not much of a priority in Ecuador and often you either just don't get hot water at all or only at limited times. Try a cold shower at night in the Andes sometime! In Rio Bamba we saw the Andean palm Parajubaea cocoides. This species is found in many Andean cities. It looks somewhat like a coconut but is much more cold hardy and is being tried in southern California.

On our way back to Quito we stopped to investigate a brilliant red bromeliad growing in a tree not too far from the road. When I got out of the car I was greeted by a land crab which looked much like the species that lives in the tide pools in southern California.  The ground was wet and muddy--shoes were constantly being sucked off my feet. I took them off and continued on up the side of the hill. When I got to the tree I found this plant to be a magnificent species of Guzmania. It was a little high to get hold of but fortunately, there were several seedlings lower down on the trunk. There was also an unusual Tillandsia species with a tall spike that was dark purple-brown in color. When I got back to the car my legs were covered with mud but there was a small stream nearby where I was able to clean up.

A bit further along we found some beautiful flowering shrubs that looked like they should be in the protea family. After some research, I now think they are in the Compositae. There were also some beautiful species of Pitcairnia in the area, one with purple orchid-like flowers. As we continued on, the vegetation started to become more and more tropical which did not make sense to us at all. Then, as we rounded a curve in the road, we saw the ocean in the distance. Once again we were victims of Ecuador's almost nonexistent road signs. Try going from about 10,000 feet in elevation down to near sea level and then all the way back up again. We got to sleep late that night. As we were up early and back on schedule again, we decided to stop in Banos, a tourist town and one of the gateways to the Amazon. On the way we saw what looked like hundreds of ferns growing on the rocks. We got out to look at these and they turned out to be orchids. Probably a species of Stelis. We also found succulent Oxalis species and Tillandsia latifoIia. Banos was full of tourists and crowded. One of the features of Banos is their sugar cane stands which sell packages of sugar cane which has been cut in strips for chewing.

The rest of the trip back to Quito went fast. All the traffic was going out of town to various other cities for the carnival weekend. As we had been cleaning the plants as we went along, we had little of that left to do. I think bromeliads are the worst in this respect because there are so many places for pests to hide. At the airport we were required to stand next to our bags on the runway as they lead the dogs by to check for drugs and whatever else they sniff for. After a long and uneventful flight home, I got a few hours sleep and then it was off to the college to teach a class.

These articles were published in HERBERTIA 1996 (51, 52, 53).