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Subject: RE: new identifications
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Sent: Friday, August 29, 1997 9:47 PM
To: ju-bo@msn.com
Subject: new identifications
>>>Dear all,
Richard Mansell has added some photographs I sent him on the IDcenter/IAS
site.
Numbers 134a, b and c are from an aroid I met in a damp area in the forest
in Ivory Coast. The plants were growing feet in water, a few kms north of
Memni. The inflorescence was really tall, about 1, 80 meters. I am not sure
but it could be Arum senegalensis (?).<<<
Dear David,
134a, b and c are BEAUTIFUL photos of Lasiomorpha senegalensis Schott, one of
the swamp dwellers grown by myself. See the Genera of Aroids page where short
articles with photos of this genus, together with Cyrtosperma and Podolasia
were recently added to the list.
"Arum" senegalensis is not listed by Hay (1988) as one of it`s synonyms. One
of my clumps of this plant recently put out three blooms, and I pollenated the
second two with pollen from the first, which was twice the size of the second
and third bloom, and I have both my fingers and toes crossed while waiting for
signs of any development of fruit on the spadices of the two smaller
infloresences.
This occurence gives me the opportunity to perhaps instigate a debate on
something I have observed on several occasions, but find no mention of in the
literature. I mentioned it to other "Aroidophiles" at MOBOT, and they too
seemed to be unaware of it being in the literature, and suggested that I
document it for possible publication. Other growers (The "Philo Phreaque"
comes to mind) were well aware of this, but were unaware if it had been
documented. What I`m rambling on about is that in at least some of the
Lasiinae the smaller,"weaker"(?) plants will put out an infloresence, but it
seems that the sole function of this smaller-than-usual bloom is to contribute
it`s genes into the pool soley as pollen, and that it does not or is incapable
of probucing seed. I`ve observed this in Dracontium, Anaphyllopsis,
Urospatha, and am presently waiting to see what happens with my Lasiomorpha.
It would seem (to me at least!) a perfectly "sensible" strategy for a
plant,either too small (weak) to as yet support the long period of seed
development, OR weakened by circumstances, and perhaps soon to die, to
contribute as quickly as possible it`s genes into the gene pool as pollen!
What do all of you "lurkers" out there think?
Cheers,
ju-bo@msn.com
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