Dry forest
Today was devoted to searching for Solanum nienkui, first described from Hainan and until recently thought to be endemic there (now it is known from Vietnam as well). It is known from very few specimens, all of which look very ratty. We had no idea what sort of habitat to look for it in, or what it looked like, so thankfully Mr. Huang was along to help – he had seen it before! After a frustrating morning in the heat and sun (35 degrees and rising to 39 eventually!), we headed off to JianFeng on the west coast.
Examining Solanum nienkui
There we found Solanum nienkui in the very dry forest at the back of the Hainan University research station! Very exciting – and we now know why the specimens look the way they do – it is a pretty unprepossessing plant – sticks with a few leaves and flowers. The flowers have unequal anthers, something not mentioned in any of the descriptions of the species – I will have to check this carefully against the few specimens I have back at the Museum.
Solanum nienkui
As a reward to ourselves, we stopped at the beach at the edge of Sanya on the way back – partly to go to the beach, but also to see the coastal vegetation restoration. There were several species of spiny shrubs, a screwpine (Pandanus) and Spinifex littoreus, an extraordinary grass whose female inflorescences for great tumbling balls that are blown about in the wind. We had races with these on the sand – great fun!
Sanya beach (click to enlarge images) Spinifex
