Australians!!

From: Kathy Upton <SKKUPTO at UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU> on 1998.04.28 at 20:52:21(2048) Rob McClure-Missouri is the "Show Me" state and you are pretty far from here, so why are you people from down under so skeptical!? All I know for certain is that the tuber that is flowering is one of 12 plants I grew from the seed Jim sent out to everyone and the seeds were marked "A. titanum". The only other plants of Amorph. that I grow here are A. bulbifer, A. konjac, and the other species that Jim sent labeled A. gigas (brooksii). I've seen bulbifer and konjac in flower many times and this is certainly neither of them if you are thinking some of the labels could have been switched or something. But I'm quite sure there have not been any labeling mistakes anyway. As for A. gigas, the leaves are so, so different ( and puny in comparison to the robust A. titanum leaves) that I can rule out it being gigas. I'm assuming Jim sent the same seeds to me that he sent everybody, so either we all have titanum or we all don't have it. It still hasn't opened, but the spathe has loosened up around the spadix now and I can see the appendage. -Kathy Upton +More upton@umsl.edu

From: "Greg Ruckert" <greg at ezi-learn.com.au> on 1998.04.29 at 00:03:54(2049) Hi Kathy, Ooh ahh, I'm hurt. Australians may be skeptical but we are also realistic - and we tend to back each other up. I share Rob's questions about your plant. Quite honestly I am impressed that you have any Amorphophallus flowering so quickly let alone A. titanum. You are to be congratulated, especially if it is A. titanum. In fact I would suspect that Peter Boyce is probably keen to have you working Kew as your results are better than they have achieved (to my knowledge). Please don't be condeming of Australians purely because they have questioning minds. Greg Ruckert +More Australian Areae Collection http://www.ezi-learn.com.au/areae/default.html

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