Lesser amorphophalli, corms vs. tubers, etc.

From: Steve Marak <samarak at arachne.uark.edu> on 1998.07.08 at 15:53:16(2438) This is another shotgun note, covering several topics I saw go by but didn't respond to at the time (probably while I was traveling). Re Amorph. konjac ... Dewey, you mentioned Fanny Phillips in one of your notes. Does she still grow the "giant" and "dwarf" forms of konjac that she had, and have these proven consistent in their growth and flowering? I've always been curious as to whether these were genetic or environmental, since aroids seem willing to flower small when happy. (My konjacs, which are grown outdoors year-round, did something unusual this year - set seed. I've never had this happen before and had assumed they were self-sterile, but perhaps I never had multiple inflorescences opening at just the right times.) Dewey, is your marvelous parvulus the same one I am growing, i.e. the one that is something else very similar, or a true parvulus? On returning home, I noticed that my plant, apparently in envy of yours, has now started several more petioles. The effect of about 5 petioles with that remarkable coloration is very beautiful. What can you Amorph. experts tell me about "Leo Song #1" and "Leo Song #2"? I was given these during my travels, and know nothing about them except that LS #2 may be a white-stemmed konjac. Will someone enlighten me, please? Wilbert, I read with interest your notes on why amorphophallus abuse (crowding) tends to result in new tubers, and also on tubers versus corms. However, I noticed - cautious and cagey soul that you are - that you stopped short of saying that you found no valid scientific distinction between tuber and corm, though you implied it rather strongly. Do you feel that there is no distinction, and that - given our imprecise English language, of course - "gladiolus tuber" is as valid as "Amorphophallus corm", or is there some usefulness in keeping both terms around? How about the other aroid genera - Dracunculus, Arisaema, Pinellia, Arum, Typhonium? Corms, tubers, or does it matter? Scott, re Alocasia 'Black Velvet', I hope you and Dr. Hay will keep us informed if a name is able to be put to it. It's one of the most beautiful around, in a genus which has more than its fair share of beautiful species. It seems to have caught on quickly in the trade, too - I see it turning up in commercial plantings now. No question about the benefits of micropropagation with this one - no other way could it now be in the hands of so many people. Thanks again for your distribution of it a couple of years ago. We did see some aroids while traveling, mostly tropicals (some very large and impressive Anthurium and Philodendron specimens in particular). Few hardy species, though while hiking in a state park in Ohio I did come across the largest Arisaema triphyllum leaf I have ever seen in the wild (Roy Herold's "giant" clone still has it beat, but not by much). The largest trillium leaf I have ever seen, too - must be the soil there. Steve +More -- Steve Marak -- samarak@arachne.uark.edu

From: "Alan Galloway" <alan at unity.ncsu.edu> on 1998.07.09 at 13:33:24(2444) On Jul 8, 10:59am, Steve Marak wrote: > Subject: Lesser amorphophalli, corms vs. tubers, etc. > Re Amorph. konjac ... Dewey, you mentioned Fanny Phillips in one of your > notes. Does she still grow the "giant" and "dwarf" forms of konjac that > she had, and have these proven consistent in their growth and flowering? > I've always been curious as to whether these were genetic or > environmental, since aroids seem willing to flower small when happy. Steve, Last year I had one of my konjacs to set seed and this year I have about 150 seedlings and at this stage there is quite a bit of diversity in this batch of seedlings. There appears to be some dwarfs, some giants, some pink-petioled, some red-petioled, and even a couple with twisted leaves. I would definitely agree that these variances are due to genetics. It appears that I have been successful in getting one of my paeoniifolius to set seed this year -- I should be able to collect a few hundred seed later this year. It will interesting to see if this batch of paeoniifolius seed will give any variant forms. > +More > Dewey, is your marvelous parvulus the same one I am growing, i.e. the one > that is something else very similar, or a true parvulus? On returning > home, I noticed that my plant, apparently in envy of yours, has now > started several more petioles. The effect of about 5 petioles with that > remarkable coloration is very beautiful. "Marvelous parvulus" or whatever name this plant will end up having is one of the prettier Amophophallus. I shared a piece of this with Dewey sometime ago. I received my original tuber from another list member simply labeled as "Red Leaf". At one time there was a photo of this plant on the IAS ID site and it was temporarily identified as A. parvulus, but I think that plant was back into the "not sure" category. I highly suspect that this is the same plant that you are growing. > > What can you Amorph. experts tell me about "Leo Song #1" and "Leo Song > #2"? I was given these during my travels, and know nothing about them > except that LS #2 may be a white-stemmed konjac. Will someone enlighten > me, please? Some years ago I received some of these "Leo Song" tubers and I have been sharing them each year, so you may have the same ones that I have. If I am not mistaken, Wilbert did say that LS #2 was a white-stemmed konjac from Kinabalu. Alan -- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Alan Galloway alan_galloway@ncsu.edu Computing Services, Information Technology Campus Box 7109 North Carolina State University (phone) 919-515-5483 Raleigh, NC 27695-7109 (fax) 919-515-3787

From: Michael Marcotrigiano <marcotrigiano at pssci.umass.edu> on 1998.07.09 at 21:10:05(2447) I suggest that everyone with seedlings they find interesting and will propagate vegetatively to maintain character GIVE them a cultivar name and register the name so the future does not bring a mess when it comes to commercial offerings of these new types. Just a suggestion. +More At 08:37 AM 7/9/98 -0500, you wrote: >On Jul 8, 10:59am, Steve Marak wrote: >> Subject: Lesser amorphophalli, corms vs. tubers, etc. >> Re Amorph. konjac ... Dewey, you mentioned Fanny Phillips in one of your >> notes. Does she still grow the "giant" and "dwarf" forms of konjac that >> she had, and have these proven consistent in their growth and flowering? >> I've always been curious as to whether these were genetic or >> environmental, since aroids seem willing to flower small when happy. > >Steve, >Last year I had one of my konjacs to set seed and this year I have about >150 seedlings and at this stage there is quite a bit of diversity in this >batch of seedlings. There appears to be some dwarfs, some giants, some >pink-petioled, some red-petioled, and even a couple with twisted leaves. >I would definitely agree that these variances are due to genetics. > >It appears that I have been successful in getting one of my paeoniifolius >to set seed this year -- I should be able to collect a few hundred seed >later this year. It will interesting to see if this batch of paeoniifolius >seed will give any variant forms. > >> >> Dewey, is your marvelous parvulus the same one I am growing, i.e. the one >> that is something else very similar, or a true parvulus? On returning >> home, I noticed that my plant, apparently in envy of yours, has now >> started several more petioles. The effect of about 5 petioles with that >> remarkable coloration is very beautiful. > > >"Marvelous parvulus" or whatever name this plant will end up having is >one of the prettier Amophophallus. I shared a piece of this with Dewey >sometime ago. I received my original tuber from another list member >simply labeled as "Red Leaf". At one time there was a photo of this >plant on the IAS ID site and it was temporarily identified as A. parvulus, >but I think that plant was back into the "not sure" category. >I highly suspect that this is the same plant that you are growing. > >> >> What can you Amorph. experts tell me about "Leo Song #1" and "Leo Song >> #2"? I was given these during my travels, and know nothing about them >> except that LS #2 may be a white-stemmed konjac. Will someone enlighten >> me, please? > > >Some years ago I received some of these "Leo Song" tubers and I have been >sharing them each year, so you may have the same ones that I have. If I >am not mistaken, Wilbert did say that LS #2 was a white-stemmed konjac >from Kinabalu. > >Alan > >-- >-------------------------------------------------------------------- >Alan Galloway alan_galloway@ncsu.edu >Computing Services, Information Technology >Campus Box 7109 >North Carolina State University (phone) 919-515-5483 >Raleigh, NC 27695-7109 (fax) 919-515-3787 > > ************************************************ Michael Marcotrigiano (email: marcotrigiano@pssci.umass.edu) Professor Rm 211 French Hall Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences Univ of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003-4210 USA ------------------------------------------------ phone: 413-545-5227 fax: 413-545-3075

From: Wilbert Hetterscheid <hetter at vkc.nl> on 1998.07.10 at 12:56:47(2449) All ye amorphophiles, One thing about establishing cultivar names: USE the ICNCP (Cultivated Plant Code, ed. 1995)!!!!!!! And also be sure that we are dealing with material of which a substantial number of individuals is alive and probably will be for a time. We don't need cultivars that live for only a few weeks or months. Cheers, Wilbert +More (also secretary of ICNCP...........) > ---------- > From: Michael > Marcotrigiano[SMTP:marcotrigiano@pssci.umass.edu] > Reply To: aroid-l@mobot.org > Sent: donderdag 9 juli 1998 23:08 > To: hetter@vkc.nl > Subject: Re: Lesser amorphophalli, corms vs. tubers, etc. > > I suggest that everyone with seedlings they find interesting and will > propagate vegetatively to maintain character GIVE them a cultivar name > and > register the name so the future does not bring a mess when it comes to > commercial offerings of these new types. Just a suggestion. > > At 08:37 AM 7/9/98 -0500, you wrote: > >On Jul 8, 10:59am, Steve Marak wrote: > >> Subject: Lesser amorphophalli, corms vs. tubers, etc. > >> Re Amorph. konjac ... Dewey, you mentioned Fanny Phillips in one of > your > >> notes. Does she still grow the "giant" and "dwarf" forms of konjac > that > >> she had, and have these proven consistent in their growth and > flowering? > >> I've always been curious as to whether these were genetic or > >> environmental, since aroids seem willing to flower small when > happy. > > > >Steve, > >Last year I had one of my konjacs to set seed and this year I have > about > >150 seedlings and at this stage there is quite a bit of diversity in > this > >batch of seedlings. There appears to be some dwarfs, some giants, > some > >pink-petioled, some red-petioled, and even a couple with twisted > leaves. > >I would definitely agree that these variances are due to genetics. > > > >It appears that I have been successful in getting one of my > paeoniifolius > >to set seed this year -- I should be able to collect a few hundred > seed > >later this year. It will interesting to see if this batch of > paeoniifolius > >seed will give any variant forms. > > > >> > >> Dewey, is your marvelous parvulus the same one I am growing, i.e. > the one > >> that is something else very similar, or a true parvulus? On > returning > >> home, I noticed that my plant, apparently in envy of yours, has now > >> started several more petioles. The effect of about 5 petioles with > that > >> remarkable coloration is very beautiful. > > > > > >"Marvelous parvulus" or whatever name this plant will end up having > is > >one of the prettier Amophophallus. I shared a piece of this with > Dewey > >sometime ago. I received my original tuber from another list member > >simply labeled as "Red Leaf". At one time there was a photo of this > >plant on the IAS ID site and it was temporarily identified as A. > parvulus, > >but I think that plant was back into the "not sure" category. > >I highly suspect that this is the same plant that you are growing. > > > >> > >> What can you Amorph. experts tell me about "Leo Song #1" and "Leo > Song > >> #2"? I was given these during my travels, and know nothing about > them > >> except that LS #2 may be a white-stemmed konjac. Will someone > enlighten > >> me, please? > > > > > >Some years ago I received some of these "Leo Song" tubers and I have > been > >sharing them each year, so you may have the same ones that I have. > If I > >am not mistaken, Wilbert did say that LS #2 was a white-stemmed > konjac > >from Kinabalu. > > > >Alan > > > >-- > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Alan Galloway alan_galloway@ncsu.edu > >Computing Services, Information Technology > >Campus Box 7109 > >North Carolina State University (phone) 919-515-5483 > >Raleigh, NC 27695-7109 (fax) 919-515-3787 > > > > > > ************************************************ > Michael Marcotrigiano (email: marcotrigiano@pssci.umass.edu) > Professor > Rm 211 French Hall > Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences > Univ of Massachusetts > Amherst, MA 01003-4210 USA > ------------------------------------------------ > phone: 413-545-5227 > fax: 413-545-3075 > >

From: grsjr at juno.com (George R Stilwell, Jr.) on 1998.07.10 at 15:15:30(2450) Great suggestion, Wilbert. But just how does one get hold of the ICNCP (Cultivated Plant Code, ed. 1995) without spending a fortune or traveling to the Netherlands??? +More My local library doesn't even have Hortus I let alone Hortus III. In fact, I suspect they think Hortus is some ancient Egyptian god. Ray _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

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