A. splendium (sensu lato)

From: "Jay Vannini" interbnk at infovia.com.gt> on 2000.04.01 at 04:11:12(4298) Mil gracias a todos! OK- think I have this taxonomic Rubik's cube sorted out. Change culture from cool and misty to warm and steamy, but well-drained - gotcha. +More One of my plants came from Tom Winn at Glasshouse Works (clearly A. luxurians) and one was brought up from the Medellin area by a Colombian orchid aficionado who knew that I was interested in showy Anthuriums. Donna, your sage advice (or my query) comes (alas!) a couple of weeks too late. The Colombian plant started going south in a big way when I got back from the Fl trip and is now a leafless wreck in long-fibered NZ sphagnum intensive care. This plant DOES look somewhat different than the GW plant/Dewey's plant/Selby's plants. There now remains only a prayer and candles to St. Simon on its behalf. 15 years for a 10" pot - Aiyeeee!!!!!!! BTW - if A. "corrugatum" ("papilionense"??) is, in fact, A. splendidum what is that totally awesome, electric green bullate Anthurium that Dewey has labelled as such? Thanks again to all, Jay

From: SelbyHort at aol.com on 2000.04.02 at 14:59:34(4315) Jay, I think Betsy added some info to the list about the plants called Anthurium corrugatum. We once had the long internode thing called A. corrugatum, but it died...was very hard to grow. The plants I saw at Fairchild had short internodes, bullate leaves, matte surface. I think these may be different species than the plant Dewey has. I hope someone takes some pics of these different things and gets the names sorted out for all of us. I had heard that Rick Cirino's plant that was once called "corrugatum" is indeed the true Anthurium splendidum. Since I have only heard about this plant and never seen it, I don't know how it compares to the things growing in Florida. It could be that Dewey's plant is same as the Cirino clone, and is actually now Anthurium splendidum...Dewey do you know??? At any rate, it wil be good to see the paper about this. I don't know what it is that you are calling Anthurium "papilionense". There is an Anthurium papillilaminum that has beautiful velvety leaves, generally dark green with some red undertones, and this plant is somewhat hard to grow as well. It does not have bullate leaves. Give that sick Anthurium luxuriens some mist and warmth and it should leaf out, but you may instead get new apices from leaf nodes further down on the stem. Just don't cover the original apex too deep in the NZ spagnum, keep it well above the surface of the moss so it does not rot out, with moss loosely packed, not tight in pot. You may want to use prophylactic fungus treatment periodically to be on safe side. If the apex does not put out leaves right away, you could next lose most of the roots. Watch out for fungus gnats at this stage, this seems to be when larvae love to attack the remains of roots and burrow into and rapidily devour stem tissue. Treatments for gnats that are largely contact sprays or fogs will kill adult gnats, but unless plant is drenched you will not easily get rid of gnat larvae. We sometimes take Anthurium with gnat problems out of pots, if there is enough left we scrape off damaged stem areas, let it dry somewhat then dust cuts with fungicide. Leave dry stem lay around for a while (maybe a week or two) to callus over well, then replant and hope you have some viable nodes left. This is worst case scenario, of course, so don't get too bummed, I am just telling you what will happen if you do not keep close eye on plant (yes, one must be somewhat a-retentive to be good grower) and take some precautions, but even best of us have this happen...we all know the sick feeling of digging out fungus gnat larvae and being left with only a little stub of solid stem left, rotted apex, with no nodes to regenerate. Not a pretty sight. Donna Atwood Selby Gardens +More << BTW - if A. "corrugatum" ("papilionense"??) is, in fact, A. splendidum what is that totally awesome, electric green bullate Anthurium that Dewey has labelled as such? >>

From: Betsytrips at aol.com on 2000.04.02 at 18:21:11(4317) In a message dated 4/2/00 9:59:57 AM Central Daylight Time, SelbyHort@aol.com writes: << The plants I saw at Fairchild had short +More internodes, bullate leaves, matte surface. I think these may be different species than the plant Dewey has. >> I thought maybe we were done with this, but alas, one more try. 1. Dewey has the same thing as Fairchild because his came from there. 2. Dewey has collected the high altitude thing from Ecuador also but to my knowledge it is not still among the living. 3. Rick's plant from Colombia, the thing that looks like a miniature corrugatum, is indeed the true Splendidum. It is not the same plant as Dewey has now or the high altitude, long internoded thing from Ecuador. Believe me, I have seen and collected the high altitude thing, and the one from Colombia that Rick collected and then I later collected. The one from Fairchild is a low altitude thing which might explain why it grows well in South Florida. You might ask Fairchild what collecting information they have on the one they have. That might clear up that mystery. But Dewey does have the plant as Fairchild. It may just be that he is growing it much better. Sometimes all of us get lucky. I do wish Dewey would chime in here and give us some of his stories but perhaps he prefers to be quiet and listen to us banter back and forth with a chuckle on his breath. If so, have fun Dewey. You have won the battle. Now, if mud is thin enough, perhaps it is time to let this Splendidum thing rest until the paper comes out. I do know that there is a great need for herbarium specimen of the leaf and the flower spike of that beautiful dark green thing we used to call Splendidum. If anyone is willing to part with a couple of leaves and the spike, they could send it to Tom and I know he would be very appreciative. Then just maybe this paper could be completed and published. Just wishful thinking, but what the heck. Until then or something else comes up, please ....... good growing Betsy

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