Conference and collection trip: Brazil, August 2008
Participants: Lynn Bohs, Stephen Stern & Fátima Agra
Lynn Bohs and Stephen Stern took a 3-week trip to northeastern Brazil to attend the 59th Congresso Nacional de Botânica and collect Solanum. Upon arrival we met with our collaborator and guide for the trip Dr. Fátima Agra (JPB) of the Univerdidade Federal de Paraíba who lead the Solanaceae session of the meeting (Fig1).
Fig1. Members of the Solanaceae round table discussion group.
Fig 2. Solanum absconditum , a species currently in press for publication with Lynn in the background.
Fig 3. Stephen collecting Solanum absconditum as night falls.
Fig 4. The fruit of Solanum polytrichum , a member of the Brazilian endemic Polytrichum group.
Fig 5. The lovely but spiny Solanum paraibanum .
Fig 6. Solanum jabrense , a species narrowly endemic to the "mata serrana" forests of Pico de Jabre in Northeastern Brazil.
Fig 7. Lynn and Fátima with Solanum paludosum in the Atalantic Coastal Forest near João Pessoa.
Fig 8. One of the faunal elements of the "caatinga" forest.
Fig 9. Relaxing on the beach near João Pessoa.
Fig 10. Lynn and Stephen immersing themselves in the culture of northeastern Brazil as the bandits Lampião and Maria Bonita.
The collecting trip was focused in the state of Paraíba with a brief foray into Pernambuco and Ceará states in order to collect Solanum absconditum (Fig 2 & 3), a species that is currently in press for publication. Other interesting collections include Solanum polytrichum (Fig 4) and Solanum paraibanum (Fig 5) from the Atlantic Coastal forest and Solanum jabrense (Fig 6) from the "caatinga" forests.
