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  MORE on Line breeding vs hybridization/wild dogs.
From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 2001.06.30 at 01:11:39(6918)
-----Original Message-----
To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L
Date: Thursday, June 28, 2001 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: Line breeding vs hybridization

Dear Paul,

First off, I am NOT a mammalogist, but do read a lot, love all canids, and
have read quite a bit about 'wild' dogs such as the Australian Dingo, the
N.G. 'singing' dog, the 'Indian dogs' of the U.S.A., and some extinct breeds
such as the Hawaiian 'poi' dog which was fed a diet of Colocasia esculenta
(poi) to improve it`s flavor, then they were killed, baked and eaten (see,
there IS an Aroid 'link' here!).

The Dingo is thought to have been brought down the Indonesian chain and
ultimately into Australia (several thousand years ago) by the ORIGINAL and
first humans to that continent, the forefathers of the present-day
abroigines, where the dogs went ferral or wild. They can be brought back
into domestication in a short space of time by simply selactivly choosing
and breeding the more docile/submissive individuals. The European/'white'
man had NOTHING to do with the Dingo`s introduction to Australia!
It has also been proven that when a population of most/any 'breed' of dog is
left to its own devices, in a relativly short space of time, in some cases
just a few generations, they revert to a 'basic' (homogenous) dog 'form',
and can survive and thrive in a 'wild' state-- these 'basic' dog forms (they
all look very much alike!) can be seen/USED to be seen world-wide in 'third
world' countries as street/stray dogs, like on the streets of 'my' Trinidad,
all resemble the dingo and the N.G. 'singing' dog! Our 'Butch' and
'Brown-boy' of my youth in Trinidad were like this, wonderful, SMART,
intelligent animals.
Most of the above information came from a recent 'Natural History' mag.
article on the discovery of a wild/ferral population of the 'Indian dog' in
the S.E. USA, I so enjoyed reading it. IF this was a 'dog list' I could go
on about another article that detailed that how in a few generations wild
foxes being bred for fur were then selectivley bred using an unusually
friendly (she wagged her tail, the other foxes did NOT do this!) female into
a multivcolored 'breed/var. that was tame, multi-colored, tail wagging (wild
foxes do NOT do this!) and friendly almost like dogs, and in just around 20
YEARS!! So---it may not have been TOO difficult for early man to have
'tamed' and selectivly bred the dog as we now know it from an especially
friendly/submissive individual belonging to one of the subspecies of wolf!
What amazes me in all this, and MOST people do not seem to realise it, is
that plants and animals can and do evolve at a very fast pace, in some cases
just months/one/a few generations, the recent letter about the person who
selectivly 'improved' a species of orchid in just a few years to the point
where the judges did not believe that he had NOT produced a hybrid
illustrated this perfectly! With Aroids we must keep in mind how VERY
quickly these plants can evolve vegetativly. I invite anyone/all of you
to purchase a plant on what is presently being called Xanthosoma atrovirens
'monstrosum', the species with the little 'frills/labia' under its
dark-green leaf blades ('Plantnut'/Dewey generally has this species
available). This thing will evolve before your very eyes, the 'pups' very
often look nothing like the parent plant, and this is vegetativly, mind
you---imagine what one could do if you took the trouble to pollenate it and
grow many seedlings! Colocasia esculenta was 'made' into over two HUNDRED
(or more???) distinctice forms or cultivars on Hawaii alone in just a few
thousand years, and done VEGETATIVLY, and in Brazil Xanthosoma sagittifolia
has seemingly been selactivly 'improved', again vegetativly, where my
friend Eduardo tells they cook the young leaves to produce the eqivelant of
our Trinidadian spinach-like dish, 'calaloo'. Leaves of the form/cultivar
of X. sagittifolia on Trinidad causes terrible itching, and 'we' have the
leaves of our 'dasheen', a cultivar of Colocasia that has no itch, so we
have no reason to even try to select or 'produce' a non-itching cultivar of
Xanthosoma.

I THINK I read that the wild Colocasia esculenta was found somewhere in the
Indonesian area?? Maybe Pete can fill us in??

Too long, too boring, forgive me.

Cheers,

Julius Boos

+More
From: GeoffAroid at aol.com on 2001.07.01 at 04:17:49(6924)
In a message dated 30/6/01 2:12:02 am, ju-bo@email.msn.com writes:

<< Colocasia esculenta was 'made' into over two HUNDRED
(or more???) distinctice forms or cultivars on Hawaii alone in just a few

+More
From: Durightmm at aol.com on 2001.07.01 at 04:18:06(6925)
Underlining the variability of aroids and colocasia in particular C.affinis
jenningsii has two forms. One the contempory green leaf with dark
purplish-black markings and it's alteroego with a reverse pattern. Joe

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 2001.07.01 at 16:22:05(6928)
-----Original Message-----
To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L
Date: Sunday, July 01, 2001 12:17 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: MORE on Line breeding vs hybridization/wild dogs.

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