Asian epiphytes...

From: RAYMOMATTLA at cs.com on 2007.02.19 at 03:18:32(15307) Thanks Peter, Alistair, Tom and Adam. For some reason Im not getting alot of the responses but happened to check the archives and found all of yours. Id be interested in seeing some of those Scindapsus too. Any of the Homalomenas growing as epiphytes? Michael +More _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

From: "Peter Boyce" <botanist at malesiana.com> on 2007.02.21 at 10:00:21(15309) Dear Michael No Homalomena, as far as I am aware, are obligate epiphytes. Having said that I have seen Homalomena griffithii growing epiphytically c. 3 m up the trunk of a large belian in riverine gallery forest in NC Sarawak; clearly the seed had lodged there either during floors or had passed through the dispersal agent. Homalomena fruits are inconspicuous but often strongly fruity-smelling and tasting and I suspect are mammal dispersed although I have no direct evidence to support this. Alistair did a lot of work on the Homalomena of New Guinea and Bismarck and may well have further anecdotes of epiphytism. Interesting, some New Guinea Homalomena contain psychoactive principles thus it is possible for the observer to be out of their tree.... Very best wishes Peter +More ----- Original Message ----- From: RAYMOMATTLA@cs.com To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 11:18 AM Subject: [Aroid-l] Re: Asian epiphytes... Thanks Peter, Alistair, Tom and Adam. For some reason Im not getting alot of the responses but happened to check the archives and found all of yours. Id be interested in seeing some of those Scindapsus too.Any of the Homalomenas growing as epiphytes?Michael _______________________________________________Aroid-l mailing listAroid-l@gizmoworks.comhttp://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

From: "Tom Croat" <Thomas.Croat at mobot.org> on 2007.02.22 at 02:16:32(15318) Michael: No neotropical Homalomena are anything but terrestrial. Tom +More Tom Croat, P. A. Schulze Curator of Botany Missouri Botanical Garden Box 299, St. Louis, Missouri 63116 (314) 577-5163 Thomas.Croat@mobot.org Please send images to our FTP Server. ftp://garfile:garden2003@cissus.mobot.org/incoming/croat ftp://garfile:garden2003@cissus.mobot.org/outgoing/croat Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 9:19 PM To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com Subject: [Aroid-l] Re: Asian epiphytes... Thanks Peter, Alistair, Tom and Adam. For some reason Im not getting alot of the responses but happened to check the archives and found all of yours. Id be interested in seeing some of those Scindapsus too. Any of the Homalomenas growing as epiphytes? Michael _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

From: "Alistair Hay" <ajmhay at hotmail.com> on 2007.02.23 at 00:33:14(15327) Thanks Peter! (out of my tree indeed!!!) LOL. No epiphytic Homalomenas that I know of in NG, though one or two rheophytes. The ones with weirder habits/habitats are mainly Bornean as I recall. Several (especially allied to H. humilis/pygmaea) are epilithic or lithophytic (depending whether you say potato or tomato!). I remember seeing H. cf hostifolia in Sarawak growing as a sort of trapeze artist on unstable streambanks: as the plant is undercut it falls and dangles by a root or two and sends out more aerial roots across to the vertical subtrate and hauls itself up again. [Peter this is from 12 yo memory! I may have the name completely wrong]. The elongate stems are twisted back and forth and around as they have repeatedly done this manoeuvre! I admired its athleticism. H. expedita(Sarawak) is a stoloniferous colony-forming swamp plant (fresh and brackish) growing in full sun. Peter, being in the thick of it, by now knows far far more than I do about thise things in Borneo!! H. belula (Java), H. hastata and H elegantula (both Sumatera) stand out in the genus in having the habit of gingers and those Schismatoglottis allied to S. calyptratra: that is the shoot flowers terminally and subsequently dies, with the plant continuing by the release of one or more lateral shoots from near the base of the previous one - unlike many/most aroids where continuation of a shoot takes place by growth from immediately below the inflorescence. Dear Michael No Homalomena, as far as I am aware, are obligate epiphytes. Having said that I have seen Homalomena griffithii growing epiphytically c. 3 m up the trunk of a large belian in riverine gallery forest in NC Sarawak; clearly the seed had lodged there either during floors or had passed through the dispersal agent. Homalomena fruits are inconspicuous but often strongly fruity-smelling and tasting and I suspect are mammal dispersed although I have no direct evidence to support this. Alistair did a lot of work on the Homalomena of New Guinea and Bismarck and may well have further anecdotes of epiphytism. Interesting, some New Guinea Homalomena contain psychoactive principles thus it is possible for the observer to be out of their tree.... Very best wishes Peter +More ----- Original Message ----- To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 11:18 AM Subject: [Aroid-l] Re: Asian epiphytes... Thanks Peter, Alistair, Tom and Adam. For some reason Im not getting alot of the responses but happened to check the archives and found all of yours. Id be interested in seeing some of those Scindapsus too.Any of the Homalomenas growing as epiphytes?Michael _______________________________________________Aroid-l mailing listAroid-l@gizmoworks.comhttp://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l >_______________________________________________>Aroid-l mailing list>Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com>http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

From: RAYMOMATTLA at cs.com on 2007.02.23 at 01:49:39(15328) Thanks Tom, One of the reasons why I asked is because many years ago, when i was much younger and with alot less knowledge on Aroids i spotted in one of those old Time Life books a picture of some Tree Ferns supposedly in Java. In one of the crowns was growing some sort of saggitate leaved plant which looked very Aroid-like. Its been a long time, like I said, so I cant remember exactly. Guess it could have a Philodendron, as I suppose there are species that have been naturalized throughout the Tropics. Speaking of neotropical Homalomenas and Time Life books...there is one titled The Amazon, (The Worlds Wild Places Time Life) with some great Aroid pics. What looks like a Homalomena picturata growing on a black water stream, with what look like some sort of Syngonium growing in the fork of a tree on pages 10-11. There is also a fantastic picture of a Monstera dubia, but the text says "Peperomia species". Others pictured in the book are an unusual Philodendron, perhaps P. laciniatum and Montrichardia. Great book to say the least! Michael +More _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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