Alocasia name

From: Lester Kallus <lkallus at earthlink.net> on 1997.07.15 at 19:14:49(946) Is there a difference between Alocasia lowii and Alocasia argyraea? A couple years ago I purchased an unnamed Alocasia at Home Depot. At the Washington DC Botanical Garden, I saw it identified as Alocaisa argyraea. This year, I purchased via mail an Alocasia lowii from the Glasshouse Works in Ohio. The plants look identical. I'm not sure if one was mislabeled or if they're the same plant or if there are some subtle differences that my relatively untrained eye can't recognize. Any thoughts? +More Les

From: plantnut at shadow.net (Dewey Fisk) on 1997.07.16 at 02:45:00(950) Lester, In Aroideana, Vol. 7, Nos. 3 & 4, Page 140, Burnett says "Alocasia x argyraea Hort. ex Sander (A. longiloba x A. x pucciana) = (A. longiloba x {A. korthalsii x A. putzeyii}". This says that you might have a hybrid on your hands.... However, on pages 117 to 119 he says that there is so much variability in A. lowii that it is difficult to tell the differences... There is one... A. lowii var. veitchii 'Argentea' that is just as silver on the leaf as the A. x argyaea that is also shown... So, the differences are more than the simalarities.. One word of hope... Dr. Alistair Hay is nearing completion of a Revision of the Genera and as soon as all the technical stuff is published in journals that most of us will never see... he has promised to do a complete Aroideana on Alocasias.... THEN, we will have the definitive word! But, don't hold your breath. This will not be for a couple of years yet! Dewey +More Dewey E. Fisk, Plant Nut THE PHILODENDRON PHREAQUE

From: "William Perez" <wperez at ridgway.mobot.org> on 1997.07.21 at 20:55:01(980) Long time, no hear from me! Okay, please help me out here quick. I have some Arum maculatum seeds that I collected while still green. Yesterday, they turned orange and today they are a nice bright orange. How soon should I sow these things. Now? How far apart should I space the individual seeds? What kind of medium should I use. And last but not least should I water the soil throughout the whole year or so while they do their underground thing before sending up a leaf. Oh yes, do they also need a cold treatment? It's an outstanding specimen that I collected these seeds from. I was walking along the banks of a river admiring the thousands of blooming cuckoo pints when this one particular one caught my eye. the spathe had a wonderful purple blush that increasingly darkend towards the spathe tip. The spathe itself was longer than any others and it actually curled back and dropped halfway down in an undulating fashion. Really beautiful. I felt kind of unethical wanting to collect the seeds so I only collected half and left the other half to nature. If I can get excellent advice from all of you and manage to germinate many I might just even share them, there's an incentive. Anyway thanks. William Perez

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