Araceae

From: "Dr. Tom Croat" tcroat at LEHMANN.MOBOT.ORG> on 2000.05.22 at 22:20:27(4612) Chris: It heats up through a process called "thermogenesis" which is triggered by acetosalycitic acid. It may generate so much heat as to be 30? above air temperature and its purpose, so far as is known, is to generate volatile compounds which in turn attract insects. In most genera, including the Monstera you saw, this happens at dusk at which time the large scarab beetle pollinators are actively flying. These beetles visit the inflorescences of aroids to aggregate, have sex and eat edible but unessential parts of the inflorescence (in the case of Philodendron this is the sterile male flowers which contain nutrient-rich lipids. The heat peak is timed precisely for this activity and may occur on the following evening as well when the stamens are opening and they are leaving, getting themselves covered with pollen in the process of their departure. For the beetles it is just one long orgy! Tom Croat +More On 22 May 00, at 11:47, Chris Tyrell wrote: Date sent: Mon, 22 May 2000 11:47:00 -0800 Subject: Araceae To: Copies to: Dwight Koss Hello Mr. Croat, I got your name from the staff of the LA County Arboretum to whom I had posed a question. I am not a knowledgeable plant person, I am a lay admirer of the floral world, that's all. I love to go to gardens. While in LA, behind a friend's hotel, I saw a huge split-leaf philadendron (monstrosa?) which had numerous "pods" with points at the top of a growing shoot. Our of one protruded a long, white, smooth and fleshy thing - a huge vcersion of that thing that sticks out of antheriums (?). Happily, I was motivated to touch it, and to my amazement it was HOT!!! The staff at the arboretum told me I might be able to find out from you how that plant produces the heat and why. Is there something a lay person could read about heat production in arcacaea? Chris Tyrell

From: "Dr. Tom Croat" tcroat at LEHMANN.MOBOT.ORG> on 2000.05.22 at 22:21:20(4613) Chris: I forgot to answer your question about relevent literature on thermogenesis. My student Jane Whitehill has written an excellent review paper on this subject which will be published in our special aroid edition of the Monographs in Systematic Botany of the Missouri Botanical Garden, hopefully sometime this year. Perhaps in the meantime she could suggest to you some of the better articles on the subject. Tom +More On 22 May 00, at 11:47, Chris Tyrell wrote: Date sent: Mon, 22 May 2000 11:47:00 -0800 Subject: Araceae To: Copies to: Dwight Koss Hello Mr. Croat, I got your name from the staff of the LA County Arboretum to whom I had posed a question. I am not a knowledgeable plant person, I am a lay admirer of the floral world, that's all. I love to go to gardens. While in LA, behind a friend's hotel, I saw a huge split-leaf philadendron (monstrosa?) which had numerous "pods" with points at the top of a growing shoot. Our of one protruded a long, white, smooth and fleshy thing - a huge vcersion of that thing that sticks out of antheriums (?). Happily, I was motivated to touch it, and to my amazement it was HOT!!! The staff at the arboretum told me I might be able to find out from you how that plant produces the heat and why. Is there something a lay person could read about heat production in arcacaea? Chris Tyrell

From: Regferns at aol.com on 2000.05.23 at 21:54:27(4619) To add to the debate, currently there are several Amorphophallus species in bloom in my collection and we notice that at dawn and dusk, the aromas that these blooms produce are at their zenith and quite overwhelming. During the course of the day, the blooms generally do not produce much of an odor. It appears that the plants are seeking pollinators which are apt to come out in the cooler parts of the day--dawn and dusk. Does this sound correct? Reggie Whitehead South Miami, FL

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2000.05.24 at 21:52:27(4628) Reggie, Flowering in early evening for Amorphs is indeed the general pattern and figures when you consider that most pollinators are carrion beetles and like, which fly at dusk. Wilbert +More ----- Original Message ----- To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L Sent: dinsdag 23 mei 2000 23:54 Subject: Re: Araceae > To add to the debate, currently there are several Amorphophallus species in > bloom in my collection and we notice that at dawn and dusk, the aromas that > these blooms produce are at their zenith and quite overwhelming. During the > course of the day, the blooms generally do not produce much of an odor. It > appears that the plants are seeking pollinators which are apt to come out in > the cooler parts of the day--dawn and dusk. Does this sound correct? > > Reggie Whitehead > South Miami, FL > > > >

From: "Hans E.A. Boos" trekmaster2001 at yahoo.com> on 2000.05.30 at 22:20:52(4655) Dear Tom, Was answering your query about Rupert Seemungal when I touched something on my computer in error and it cut me off the internet. So I reconnected and couldnt find your original message. So here goes. Once more into the breach. I was the cutator of the Emperor Valley Zoo in Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago for 25 years and have recently retired. Julius has often talked of you, and I have just returned from a magical ten days of a reunion with him and our old friend Joep Moonen in Cayenne. Rupert Seemungal was the brother of the brilliant Lionel Augustine Seemungal, a dear and old friend, who sadly is ina decline due to possibly Alseimers disease.. Rupert was always thought of as some sort of eccentric nut, and eventually went to New York City to work in a bookstore to be near to the opera, of which he was some sort of expert. He disappeared one winter and we heard that he was found frozen in a drift when the thaw set in, but that may be just another story. In any case I believe he m,ust be dead. Maybe one day you can visit Trinidad and we will meet. I'll look forward to that. Cheers, Hans +More --- "Dr. Tom Croat" wrote: > Chris: > > It heats up through a process called > "thermogenesis" which is > triggered by acetosalycitic acid. It may generate > so much heat as to be > 30? above air temperature and its purpose, so far as > is known, is to > generate volatile compounds which in turn attract > insects. In most > genera, including the Monstera you saw, this happens > at dusk at which > time the large scarab beetle pollinators are > actively flying. These > beetles visit the inflorescences of aroids to > aggregate, have sex and eat > edible but unessential parts of the inflorescence > (in the case of > Philodendron this is the sterile male flowers which > contain nutrient-rich > lipids. The heat peak is timed precisely for this > activity and may occur > on the following evening as well when the stamens > are opening and they > are leaving, getting themselves covered with pollen > in the process of > their departure. For the beetles it is just one > long orgy! > > Tom Croat > > On 22 May 00, at 11:47, Chris Tyrell wrote: > > Date sent: Mon, 22 May 2000 11:47:00 -0800 > Subject: Araceae > From: Chris Tyrell > To: > Copies to: Dwight Koss > > > Hello Mr. Croat, > > I got your name from the staff of the LA County > Arboretum to whom I had > posed a question. I am not a knowledgeable plant > person, I am a lay admirer > of the floral world, that's all. I love to go to > gardens. > > While in LA, behind a friend's hotel, I saw a huge > split-leaf philadendron > (monstrosa?) which had numerous "pods" with points > at the top of a growing > shoot. Our of one protruded a long, white, smooth > and fleshy thing - a huge > vcersion of that thing that sticks out of antheriums > (?). Happily, I was > motivated to touch it, and to my amazement it was > HOT!!! > > The staff at the arboretum told me I might be able > to find out from you how > that plant produces the heat and why. Is there > something a lay person could > read about heat production in arcacaea? > > Chris Tyrell > > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/

From: "Cooper, Susan L." SLCooper at scj.com> on 2003.01.02 at 14:44:07(9758) I've heard of Potty-mouth, but never Potyvirus! Susan +More Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 8:30 AM To: Cooper, Susan L. Subject: FW: Araceae FYI. potyvirus ? a new one on me... hb 1: Zhang t_uids494335&dopt«stract> HJ, Tamez PA, Aydogmus Z, Tan GT, Saikawa Y, Hashimoto K, Nakata M, Hung NV, Xuan le T, Cuong NM, Soejarto DD, Pezzuto JM, Fong HH. Related =pubmed_pubmed&from_uid494335> Articles, Books, t_uids494335&dopt=Books> LinkOut t_uids494335&dopt=ExternalLink> Antimalarial Agents from Plants. III. Trichothecenes from Ficus fistulosa and Rhaphidophora decursiva. Planta Med. 2002 Dec;68(12):1088-91. PMID: 12494335 [PubMed - in process] 2: Kwon t_uids491097&dopt«stract> SB, Ha JH, Yoon JY, Ryu KH. Related =pubmed_pubmed&from_uid491097> Articles, Books, t_uids491097&dopt=Books> LinkOut t_uids491097&dopt=ExternalLink> Zantedeschia mosaic virus causing leaf mosaic symptom in calla lily is a new potyvirus. Arch Virol. 2002 Nov;147(12):2281-9. PMID: 12491097 [PubMed - in process]

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