Re: [aroid-l] question about tubers vs. bulbs

From: "Michael Marcotrigiano" mmarcotr at email.smith.edu> on 2003.05.06 at 18:46:02(10190) In New England the flowering ones sometimes have such a short foliar season that the resulting tuber is smaller the next year and does not flower. Sometimes they split into multiple leaves and do not flower. I had mine (not big enough I thought) in my onion cellar and just last month thought a cat died in the kitchen. A trip to the basement revealed an etiolated 10 foot stalk with a pale stinker at the end. New discovery: Light is not necessary for the tuber to stink you out of your house. +More _______________________________ Michael Marcotrigiano, Ph.D Director of the Botanic Garden and Professor of Biological Sciences Smith College Lyman Conservatory, 15 College Lane Northampton, MA 01063 email: mmarcotr@smith.edu voice: 413-585-2741; fax: 413-585-2744 www.smith.edu/garden www.science.smith.edu/~mmarcotr ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers and never succeeding." Marc Chagall >>> levin@pixar.com 05/06/03 02:55AM >>> Hi Julius & Nancy, No doubt there will be a flurry of responses on this topic, but in the interest of providing yet another data point: my largest tuber of Am. konjac (approx. 10" / 25 cm diameter) blooms like clockwork every year in April. It then takes a few months off before commencing with its foliar phase, which here in the San Francisco Bay Area persists until December or January before collapsing. A few months more rest, then the cycle repeats. It's been 4 years so far, with little to no deviation from the above schedule. -Dan Levin Piedmont, CA > << It may be several > > years before it re-builds enough 'strength'/size to bloom again. >> > > OH, my, I assumed that once it matured, it would bloom every year from now > on. Boo hoo. I guess I should savor the moment then, huh. It has been in > the 60's most of the week, so it has not been stinky yet. Thank God! Am. konjac is to my knowledge never an overwhelming stinker. Think "dead cat" smell or thereabouts. By comparison, poor Craig Allen at FTG has been subjected to the likes of "dead rhinoceros" lately. It's all relative, Nancy! > Does anyone know how much the tubers are worth?

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