From: ju-bo at msn.com (ju-bo at msn.com) on 2008.05.03 at 11:18:24(17538)
Dear Aroid Friends,
Back in 2004 the late Lynn Hannon and myself gave away seeds by mail (some internationally) from fruit collected off her plant of Cyrtosperma cuspidispathum which she grew well in her greenhouses.
In the last couple of years at least two of the folks who received these seeds have sent me photos of their BEAUTIFUL plants grown from these seeds, and blooming!! These photos (one set received just yesterday!) have led me to believe that the plants grown from our seeds are hybrid Cyrtosperma, NOT pure C. cuspidispathum. Lynn had a few hybrid Cyrtosperma produced in Austraila in her greenhouse, and the pinkish striping and shorter spathes on the blooms in the photos sent to me are very distinctive of the Austrailain hybrids, NOT of pure C. cuspidispathum, though the striping on the blooms in the sent photos, as would be expected in offspring from a pure C. cuspidispathum crossed with a 1/2 C. cuspidispathum /Cyrtosperma sp. hybrid, is much less than on the parent hybrid. The spathes in the recent photos are shorter than pure C. cuspidispathum, but longer than the hybrid male parent. Insects must have cross-pollinated the bloom on Lynn`s plant with pollen from one of the hybrids, as this genus produc
es blooms with an intense fruity smell at anthesis, attractive to fruit flies and small fruit-eating beetles.
The spathe of pure C. cuspidispathum is MUCH longer, and of a all purple/black color. Photos of a bloom of this species can be seen on the aroid-l species pages, and in Alistair Hay`s wonderful book, the aroids of Papua/New Guinea.
I hope this information will allow owners of these plants to change their labels. I`m sorry for the inconvience.
Julius
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