Charles Brewer Carias
Carnivorous Plants And Neblina Expedition
Carnivorous Plants And Neblina Expedition
" I describe myself as a discoverer and, also as an explorer in the eighteenth century frame " - Charles Brewer Carias
Carnivorous Plants
Venezuelan explorer and polymath Charles Brewer-Carías, describing his study of the feeding habits of the carnivorous pitcher plants that grow on the sandstone tepuies of the Guayana highlands. Charles is without a doubt a systematic observer of the natural enviromment and has made significant discoveries and contributions in the fields of botany, zoology, anthropology, geography and cave exploration. His main focus of exploration being the high plateaus and lost worlds of the Guayana highlands. 28 new species now bear his name.
“ I believe there are 28 speciess and one family of bromelidads : Brewcaria sp. Maybe it is in Wikipedia. Now there are botanists naming a probable new family of plants I collected, a new species of Utricularia I pick up at Ptari-tepui and a new species of algae from Chimanta tepui.” - Charles Brewer-Carías
Concerning his fascinating research into the feeding structure of the carnivorous plants, genus Heliamphora, also known as sun pitchers, Charles said the following, quote -
“What I really found and discovered happened at Cerro de la Neblina in 1971, when I was the first one to stop in front of an Heliamphora and guessed how the insects were attracted and let them get wet and sank due to a lower surface tension at the water due to some saponin. Then at the boyom of the pot were some filarias that would digest the insect bodies and the plant then feeds with the filarias excrements... Then I was able to determine how the water of the cup would not flood the cup while raining and how the plant kept the level of the water tank in certain place due to some siphon procedure with some bristle hairs organized like a brush that acted by capillary. This I observed using the blan indian drawing ink from G.C.K. Dunsterville, the botanist and painter of orchids that was my fellow companion. Until then, all the botanista had studied the plants flat pressed between newspapers....
All this I explained in two humble articles that has been cited by many authors.”- Charles Brewer-Carías
Brewer-Carías, Ch. 1972. Observaciones sobre el Nicho Ecológico de la Heliamphora, Planta Carnívora del Cerro de la Neblina. Revista Natura. Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle No 48-49; pp.4.7. Caracas.
Brewer-Carías, Ch. 1973. Plantas Carnívoras del Cerro de La Neblina. Estudio y Fotografía sobre tres mecanismos de trampas. Revista Defensa de la Naturaleza 2(6):17-26. Caracas
For a comprehensive article about Charle’s research on the Heliamphora, see the chapter about carnivorous plants in his book “The Lost World of Venezuela and Its Vegetation”
“What I really found and discovered happened at Cerro de la Neblina in 1971, when I was the first one to stop in front of an Heliamphora and guessed how the insects were attracted and let them get wet and sank due to a lower surface tension at the water due to some saponin. Then at the boyom of the pot were some filarias that would digest the insect bodies and the plant then feeds with the filarias excrements... Then I was able to determine how the water of the cup would not flood the cup while raining and how the plant kept the level of the water tank in certain place due to some siphon procedure with some bristle hairs organized like a brush that acted by capillary. This I observed using the blan indian drawing ink from G.C.K. Dunsterville, the botanist and painter of orchids that was my fellow companion. Until then, all the botanista had studied the plants flat pressed between newspapers....
All this I explained in two humble articles that has been cited by many authors.”- Charles Brewer-Carías
Brewer-Carías, Ch. 1972. Observaciones sobre el Nicho Ecológico de la Heliamphora, Planta Carnívora del Cerro de la Neblina. Revista Natura. Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle No 48-49; pp.4.7. Caracas.
Brewer-Carías, Ch. 1973. Plantas Carnívoras del Cerro de La Neblina. Estudio y Fotografía sobre tres mecanismos de trampas. Revista Defensa de la Naturaleza 2(6):17-26. Caracas
For a comprehensive article about Charle’s research on the Heliamphora, see the chapter about carnivorous plants in his book “The Lost World of Venezuela and Its Vegetation”
Charles standing in a field of Carnivorous plants "Heliamphora" in the Guayana Highlands.
Scientific Expedition to Neblina Tepui
Charles was described by author Douglas J. Preston as, quote - “ One of the few people familiar with the Nablina region, Brewer turned out to be an ideal leader - an old fashioned, Roy Chapman Andrews type. Lean, muscular, comfortable with half a dozen Indian languages, Brewer was most at home, according to one expedition member, “hunkered down over a campfire with a group of Indians.” - Douglas J. Preston, ‘Dinosaurs in the Attic’.
Below are extrordinary photos sent to me by Venezuelan Polymath and naturalist Charles Brewer-Carías, showcasing the 1983-1987 Biodiversity Expedition to the Lost world of Cerro de
la Neblina tepui, a spectacular sandstone, quarzcite tepui. Neblina {Misty Mountain} is the highest tepui and also one of the largest, and along with the other isolated tabletop mountians in the Venezuelan Guayana highlands it provides a window into the remnant geography, flora, and fauna that was once part of Gondwana land, the great super continent. The sandstone plateaus harbor sphagnum bogs and are packed with insect-trapping pitcher plants “Sarraceniaceae” and others like the Drosera, along with delicate orchids and bromeliads and foot long earthworms as shown in the photo below. The 1983 expedition reflected the Victorian ethos of discovery in both its scope and multi disciplinary objectives and was described by author Douglas J. Preston as quote -"A place called Cerro de la Neblina, "Mountain of the Mists." An expedition there in 1983 to 1987 hearkened back in many ways to the age of Roy Chapman Andrews " - Douglas J. Preston, "Dinosaurs in the Attic"
Please see Charle’s book ‘The Lost World of Venezuela And Its Vegetation’ for a detailed chapter on Neblina tepui.
Concerning the photos in this blog post Charles said the following, quote -
“Here some of the worms we had to cook and eat with tomato sauce when the helicopter was delayed for a week and we did not have food on top of Cerro de la Neblina, Mountain of the Mist. A view of the Base Camp, where I spent 4 years dealing with the expedition. Considered the largest biodiversity expedition in the world (1983-1987) and a group of the international scientists that accompanied me. The plant is the Neblinaria Celiae, named to remember his wife Celia Maguire by the great botanist Bassett Maguire, the first explorer of Cerro de la Neblina in 1954“ - Charles Brewer-Carías
Please see Charle’s book ‘The Lost World of Venezuela And Its Vegetation’ for a detailed chapter on Neblina tepui.
Concerning the photos in this blog post Charles said the following, quote -
“Here some of the worms we had to cook and eat with tomato sauce when the helicopter was delayed for a week and we did not have food on top of Cerro de la Neblina, Mountain of the Mist. A view of the Base Camp, where I spent 4 years dealing with the expedition. Considered the largest biodiversity expedition in the world (1983-1987) and a group of the international scientists that accompanied me. The plant is the Neblinaria Celiae, named to remember his wife Celia Maguire by the great botanist Bassett Maguire, the first explorer of Cerro de la Neblina in 1954“ - Charles Brewer-Carías
Worms we ate at Cerro de la Neblina. up to three feet long " - Charles Brewer-Carías
Above image shows A giant tarantula as it crawls along a table at the Base camp of the Neblina biological scientific expedition in the 1980s. Charles explains the photo in the following quote -
" The size of the pencil gives you the scale, see how thick it is. It was somewhat scary when I laid my hand on the table and let the spider walk over it. Not disturbing her and not moving... just the blood pressure bouncing because of fear. It felt that it was as heavy as a rat..." - Charles Brewer-Carías
" The size of the pencil gives you the scale, see how thick it is. It was somewhat scary when I laid my hand on the table and let the spider walk over it. Not disturbing her and not moving... just the blood pressure bouncing because of fear. It felt that it was as heavy as a rat..." - Charles Brewer-Carías
“This Anaconda we saw it and left it alone at the Neblina Base Camp. It was 8 meters long. near the maximum known. (25 feet) - Charles Brewer-Carías
The plant is the Neblinaria Celiae, named to remember his wife Celia Maguire by the great botanist Bassett Maguire, the first explorer of Cerro de la Neblina in 1954“ - Charles Brewer-Carías
Neblina base camp
Neblina scientific expedition team
Click On Photo Gallery
Click On Map Gallery
"Anybody can be a discoverer. It’s a matter of preparation, of knowledge, of being interested in everything. The only limits are those of our imagination." - Charles Brewer-Carías Magazine Geographical quote
Bibliography
Charles Brewer-Carías Website - Link
Article on Charles Brewer's book entitled “Symbology of the Yekuana Basketry” - The Humboldt of the 21st Centuryes.aleteia.org/2019/08/10/el-humboldt-del-siglo-xxi-charles-brewer-carias/
Article on Charles Brewer's book entitled “Symbology of the Yekuana Basketry” - The Humboldt of the 21st Centuryes.aleteia.org/2019/08/10/el-humboldt-del-siglo-xxi-charles-brewer-carias/