International Aroid Society

Steve:

Passthis on to Dan Devor! .

Findingdecent type specimen is actually one of the most difficult tasks of abotanist. There are lots of new species floating around but you need morethan a live plant which does not count for anything according to therules. It has to be herbarium material preserved in a recognizedherbarium. Moreover, I insist that the type be widely distributed,meaning a bare minimum of three specimens, one on each continent. This isto avoid the risk of losing or damaging the specimens by sending them throughthe mail. Too often specimens, particularly those of large plants, arecollected in sets of one (useless in my opinion). When I collect andsuspect that something is new I try to make as many specimens as possible. Naturally a good description is nice and commendable but legally there are nodemands on the quality of the description, unlike the demand that a collectionbe preserved. I try to make excellent descriptions with lots of photos aswell. Aroids are confusing enough when you have excellent information soit all helps.

Tom

From: aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com[mailto:aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com] OnBehalf Of ExoticRainforest
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 20082:16 PM
To: Discussion of aroids
Subject: [Aroid-l] New SpeciesAnthurium, sect. Belolonchium

Hi Daniel, I've been corresponding with Beth about this plant for sometime and will attempt to give you an answer. The type specimen needs tobe a plant with known collection data (elevation, forest type, epiphyte orterrestrial) that has been fully described, ie, roots, stem, internodes,cataphylls, blades, veins, inflorescence, infructescence and details on thefemale and male flowers as well as pollen with detailed information on both theadaxial (upper) surface as well as the abaxial (lower) surface of the bladeincluding the midrib, primary lateral veins and tertiary veins. Thepeople at the Quito Botanical Gardenapparently did not collect field notes when they rescued their specimens whichwere in danger of being destroyed so that data does not now exist. Theyhave given Beth an approximate location where it was found and Beth is nowworking with Dr. Tom Croat to find it in the wild and do the necessary fieldwork to satisfy the publication of a scientific description of a newspecies. The senior botanist also grants the plant its name. Onecomplete leaf must be dried and properly preserved so information can becompared to other known species specimens. A dried blade may dry adifferent color than known species or exhibit features not easily seen on aliving specimen, thus the need for the comparison. All that info plus thedried specimen and a living specimen known as the "type specimen"must be deposited in a recognized botanical garden collection. Of course,Tom will do that work with Beth working as the junior co-author and the driedmaterial and type specimen deposited in the Missouri Botanical Gardenliving collection of aroid species.

Genetic analysis is not normally done to publish a scientificdescription. The new problem in botany is far too many genetic botanistshave little to zero idea what any species looks like in the wild stateincluding natural variations, they only know how to determine a species byusing genetic information which is virtually worthless to a field botanist suchas Dr. Croat. Field botany is regrettably a dieing breed of scientist! If you are armed only with genetic data, how in the world do you know how torecognize a plant in the wild? You can't easily do a genetic analysis inthe middle of an Ecuadorian rain forest.

Hope that helps.

Steve Lucas
www.ExoticRainforest.com

Daniel Devor wrote:

Hi Beth, Perhaps you could explain to a totalnovice who has never field collected plants what you mean by collecting the"type specimen" and then showing us pictures of plants that arealready collected, flowering and fruiting (maybe I mesread and this is adifferent plant)?? It seems the people at the Quito Botanical Gardenscould, if they chose to, compile a complete description of the plant inquestion, including a proper genetic analysis if they deemed itappropriate. Are you saying that all that is left to do is find theoriginal field notes for collection local?

Sorry for the naive questions, but I'm just curious:o)

Thanks ,

Dan

----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Campbell
To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com
Sent: Sunday,December 28, 2008 11:19 AM
Subject: [Aroid-l]New Species Anthurium, sect. Belolonchium

Hi folks! As Steve said, I've found this big,ornate-leafed Anthurium, which Dr. Croat says is undescribed, and for which Iam doing the fieldwork to collect the type specimen and take the environmentaldata. He mentioned y'all might like to see it! I took a number of descriptivephotos of the specimens that are growing at the Quito Botanical Gardens, andfor ease of viewing they live in their own gallery. Here's the address:

http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/HabloPorArboles/Unknown%20Anthurium/

I hope to find specimens with mature seed; if not I will have to take cuttingsin order to home-culture the plant. When I have viable seed for it, I'll postanother message for collectors. As a private citizen, it is very difficult forme to ship live plant matter out of the country, but they have no problem withgermplasm.

Steve: I am not normally in the coastal forests, but it looks like I'll get anopportunity to go later this month. I shall certainly keep an eye out for yourspecies, and if I find it I will take wild photos, and the observations youwanted. I can also bug EcuaGenera on your behalf.

Cheers!

Beth
_______________________________________________________________
Get the Free email that has everyone talking at http://www.mail2world.com
Unlimited Email Storage – POP3– Calendar – SMS – Translator – Much More!
_______________________________________________
Aroid-L mailing list
Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com
http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

_______________________________________________

Aroid-L mailing list

Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com

http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l