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| Sunday, 28 November 2004 |
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Features |  |
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Cantley's Red : Blooming carnivores by Elmo Leonard
A Sri Lankan company involved in exports of plants has a great chance of winning a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show, considered the Olympics of Plants, to be held in London, in May 2005. The hope of accomplishing this feat is excellent, bearing that this company, Borneo Exotics (under BOI status) won a gold medal at the September (2004) Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) Great Autumn Show held in Westminster London. This is also the first time that a debutante to the Chelsea show struck gold. Another first is that with a single success at the Chelsea show, the company has been allowed the right to enter the Plant Olympics. This is the success story of Robert Cantley 46 and his partner in business, Ms Diana Williams, both British. Ironically, Robert is an electronics engineer, turned horticulturist and Diana was a teacher until they met. The plants they entered into the Chelsea show bears an even more romantic fable being one of ninety-six varieties of Nepenthes and these plants have pitchers or 'stomachs' at the end of every leaf, which lures, traps and digests insects, ants, cockroaches, snails and slugs. Large Nepenthes varieties trap and digest rats and frogs leaving their skeletons intact. Cantley said that Nepenthes do to not lure in mosquitoes which by nature seek blood for nourishment. Needless to say, these plant with a carnivorous digestive system (the enzymes they produce is similar to that found in man's stomach) has captured the imagination of plant lovers. There is a niche market for it in the developed world and all Borneo Exotic's exports are airlifted to USA and Japan and a small quantity to Europe.
The beauty of these plants could be gauged from a quote from the book, Insect Eating Plants, by Adrian Stock: "But undoubtedly the most magnificent form is one recently discovered in a jungle in Brunei, North Borneo, by Robert Cantley. What appeared to be a group of toadstools from a distance proved on closer inspection to be a colony of Nampullaria, the pitchers of which differed from all others in being of brilliant crimson-scarlet sparingly motted in green. To my mind this is one of the most exciting and beautiful Nepenthes introduced in recent years." And that variety is known to the world as Cantley's Red. These plants turned carnivorous millions of years ago to overcome the Nitrogen-poor soils they grew on. Nepenthes, with their pitchers are found west-most in Madagascar and furthest east in North Australia. The most spectacular species grow on mountains in Indonesia, Philippines and Borneo and one species is endemic to Sri Lanka, called Nepenthes distillatory. This species is found in the Sinharaja forest, in Kalutara and Katunayake, in small colonies and the local Department of Wildlife had done a good job in protecting them, Cantley said. Some species need warm days and cool nights and Borneo Exortics has a nursery in the highlands of Lindula at 4,700 feet above sea level in addition to one in the suburb of Colombo in Thalawathugoda.
Cantley has lived in Asia for 25 years. In 1980 he set up a small horticultural business in Brunei, in north Borneo. Intent on setting up a nursery in Sri Lanka, Cantley worked in Qatar and Hong Kong, to raise the capital. Sri Lanka has the variations of weather and its labour force are intelligent, Cantley commented. Cantley set up his business in Sri Lanka in 1997. The plants are produced by tissue culture, with a laboratory at Thalawathugoda. From a single seed, any number of plants could be produced and it takes many years to grow a Nepenthes plant. These plants are really creepers, which climb towards sunlight on large plants and there are cases of a Nepenthes having reached 60 metres high, and another of having reached 130 years. CITES, the world authority on conservation of plants and animals has recognised the work of Cantley. And Cantley says that there are many new species of Nepenthes undiscovered in Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. While the Philippines has 40,000 islands and much of Asia is yet under forest cover, Cantley says that the undiscovered varieties must be preserved in nurseries before they disappear under the axe of the logging companies. Some species can survive only in a natural environment and in the humidity of forest cover and the nursery at Thalawathugoda is a high enclosure amply supplied with water vapour. Robert Cantley is also busy writing a book, which will be titled, 'Nepenthes care and cultivation'. Cantley said that his award winning plants were grown for eight years in Sri Lanka's highland nursery and taken to London as bare rooted plants in check-in-baggage aboard a SriLankan Airlines flight. The procedure involved a lot of paperwork and sophisticated packaging and such a feat has possibly never been attempted before for a major international show. Following twenty-two hours of hard work a flawless display was created which competed with the best that Britain put on show. Cantley thanked his staff, Departments of Wildlife and Agriculture and Government bodies which contributed to his success. |
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