Aroid-L XANADU

From: hermine <hermine at endangeredspecies.com> on 2009.08.13 at 20:14:34(19713) what is this thing with Philodendron 'Xanadu' being so variable?some look like epiphytic ferns, others have huge fat petioles, some areblue, others almost orange. discuss and explain how this happened. I thought a named cultivar wassupposed to be UNIFORM. HTML +More herm--=====================_156807093==.ALT----==============U25054893271609699=

From: ExoticRainforest <Steve at ExoticRainforest.com> on 2009.08.14 at 06:14:15(19716) Hi Hermine. This is really Julius'territory but since he is under the weather right now I'll take a stabat it. As far as I can learn, and Julius and I have talked about this a greatdeal, the species was described from tissue cultured specimens. Thatis unusual in botany but there was a great deal of info that leadJulius with Tom and Simon Mayo's help to believe the plant was unique. You can read about that in two different articles by Julius found inAroideana. I believe the variations you appear to be describing are primarily aresult of tissue culture. The plant was licensed to a variety of labsto be TC'd and what comes out of the lab depends largely on what goesinto the test tube! Too much of a chemical and the plants will vary. This one has been very strange at producing a lot of plants with doublespathes and/or deformed spathes. I've seen several and there have beenmembers of Aroid l post photos from Disney in Orlando with crazyspathes. I've been unable to learn if anyone has been successful atgrowing any of these plants form seed but if so they should stabilizeto some degree. The other problem is simply the natural variation in any aroid. Ittook me a long time to begin to get a handle on it but there is a wildamount of variation in Philodendron and Anthuriumspecies. I consulted with Julius, Leland and Tom for weeks and read aton of published material before trying to write an article explaininghow variation and morphogenesis work. You can find that on my sitesince it is listed right on the home page near the bottom right. I have one of Julius' original specimens that he used during the periodwhen he was working on the description and mine is old enough toproduce inflorescences. However, I'm not talented enough to make itpollinate so I don't know if I'll ever see berries and seed. Mineproduces good inflorescences so someday I hope to give it a try. One note. Leland Miyano believes, and I think he has actually seen aplant in Brazil that is very much like P. xanadu but islarger. I also have a friend that lives near Mexico City that broughtback seeds from Brazil some 20 years ago (well before tissue culturewas popular) and his plants are identical to those we see in tissueculture but stay perpetually smaller than the ones Leland describes. He tells me he got the seeds from a friend that grew a lot of aroids inhis yard in Brazil and the plant was quite common. As I recall, thatfriend lived near Sao Paulo. As a result I have no doubt this plantis a species but there is still a great deal to be learned. But to befair, I know for certain there are people that read all the mail onthis forum that don't believe it is anything but a hybrid. I'm sure you know that a great deal of the forest in Brazil has beendevastated so many species will likely never be found in the wild. Youcan log on to Google Earth and see huge areas of clear cut forest! Plants used to live there that only collectors likely grow and few ofus have any collection data. I've been fortunate enough to receivefour plants from the collection of Roberto Burle-Marx that wereapparently wild collected but there is zero collection data. MOBOTsold some of their Burle-Marx cuttings a few months ago and I managedto get one of those that is now quite large. If we can get Leland tochime in I believe he can tell you about the plants he has seenincluding the one that may well be the original parent of P. xanadu! As the story goes the original plants grown in Australia came fromseeds supposedly of Philodendron bipinnatifidum that wereimported into Australia. I've been told that one of those seeds looked"different" and was the first P. xanada grown down under. HTML +More >From there the story took some strange turns including Xanadu was"found" in an Australian rain forest. That story actually ran in aLost Angeles news paper and until a few months could still be found onthe internet. I haven't checked lately but you might find it now. Ofcourse, any botanist will tell you that Philodendron don't grownaturally anywhere but Central and South America with some in theCaribbean. There is still a great deal to learn and I'm hopeful that Julius willfeel well enough shortly to fill in all the enormous gaps I leftblank. In the meantime there is an article on my site that Juliusprovided a lot of the info that might tell you more. Steve Lucas www.ExoticRainforest.com hermine wrote: what is this thing with Philodendron 'Xanadu' being so variable?some look like epiphytic ferns, others have huge fat petioles, some areblue, others almost orange. discuss and explain how this happened. I thought a named cultivar wassupposed to be UNIFORM. herm _______________________________________________Aroid-L mailing listAroid-L@www.gizmoworks.comhttp://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l --------------030904050002090706060601

From: Michael Pascall <mickpascall at hotmail.com> on 2009.08.14 at 07:07:20(19719) Herm , you must be seeing some strange things with Xanadu tags on them , as I only know it as a small clumping self-header with pinnate dark green leaves . Is know a species . Michael Pascall, Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:14:34 -0700 HTML +More To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com; aroid-l@gizmoworks.com From: hermine@endangeredspecies.com Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Aroid-L XANADU what is this thing with Philodendron  'Xanadu' being so variable?some look like epiphytic ferns, others have huge fat petioles, some areblue, others almost orange. discuss and explain how this happened. I thought a named cultivar wassupposed to be UNIFORM. herm Find your next place with Ninemsn property Looking for a place to rent, share or buy this winter?--_1d9d2e89-f66c-430e-b2e2-1775fdc90dfe_----==============P12217653192061627=

From: <criswick at spiceisle.com> on 2009.08.15 at 14:54:09(19727) There have been problems with the tissue culture of Xanadu. Some batches don't grow well at all. John. On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:07:20 +1000 +More Michael Pascall wrote: > > Herm , you must be seeing some strange things with >Xanadu tags on them , as I only know it as a small >clumping self-header with pinnate dark green leaves . > Is know a species . > > Michael Pascall, > > > > > Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:14:34 -0700 > To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com; aroid-l@gizmoworks.com >From: hermine@endangeredspecies.com > Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Aroid-L XANADU > > > > > > what is this thing with Philodendron 'Xanadu' being so >variable? > some look like epiphytic ferns, others have huge fat >petioles, some are > blue, others almost orange. > > > discuss and explain how this happened. I thought a named >cultivar was > supposed to be UNIFORM. > > > herm > _________________________________________________________________ > Looking for a place to rent, share or buy this winter? >Find your next place with Ninemsnproperty > http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fninemsn%2Edomain%2Ecom% 2Eau%2F%3Fs%5Fcid%3DFDMedia%3ANineMSN%5FHotmail%5FTagline&_t=774152450&_r =Domain_tagline&_m=EXT _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

From: "Marek Argent" <abri1973 at wp.pl> on 2009.08.15 at 17:00:17(19730) There is only one Philodendron xanadu, and it is a botanic species. Of course there may exist variegated or coloured cultivars, then their names should be Philodendron xanadu 'Cultivar Name'. Also there may exist hybrids (Ph. xanadu crossed with another Philodendron species or cultivars). The pure species always looks like this: http://www.wschowa.com/abrimaal/araceum/philodendron/xanadu.htm Many people still use the name Philodendron 'Xanadu', because it was described as a species a few years ago, although it has been in cultivation for many more years. Marek HTML +More ----- Original Message ----- From: hermine To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com ; aroid-l@gizmoworks.com Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 10:14 PM Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Aroid-L XANADU what is this thing with Philodendron 'Xanadu' being so variable? some look like epiphytic ferns, others have huge fat petioles, some are blue, others almost orange. discuss and explain how this happened. I thought a named cultivar was supposed to be UNIFORM. herm _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l ------=_NextPart_000_0087_01CA1DDA.A1125650----==============(77439283799861851=

From: ExoticRainforest <Steve at ExoticRainforest.com> on 2009.08.17 at 21:28:59(19738) Only one comment Marek, and I reallywish Julius would respond because he could add so much more. The fullyadult form is quite a bit different than the plant in your photo. Yourplant appears to be a mid-adult. The photo I'm posting was just takenof the specimen Julius gave me. This is one of the plants he usedwhile writing the description that was published as Philodendronxanadu Croat, Mayo and Boos. If you want to add it to the sitefeel free. I have a friend in Mexico that has a near 20 year old plantgrown from seed brought from Brazil and his looks both like your plantand the one in this photo depending on the age of the blade. I'm sorry the colors are so dull but we are having a thunderstorm rightnow! Steve Lucas HTML +More www.ExoticRainforest.com Marek Argent wrote: There is only one Philodendronxanadu, and it is a botanic species. Of course there may existvariegated or coloured cultivars, then their names should be Philodendronxanadu 'Cultivar Name'. Also there may exist hybrids (Ph.xanadu crossed with another Philodendron species orcultivars). The pure species always looks likethis: http://www.wschowa.com/abrimaal/araceum/philodendron/xanadu.htm Many people still use the name Philodendron 'Xanadu', because it was described as a species a few years ago, although it has been incultivation for many more years. Marek --------------010006080402000005090809

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.