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  Re: [Aroid-l] Dr. Jim Symon/Titan blooming
From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2006.08.20 at 12:18:53(14535)
Reply-To : Discussion of aroids
Sent : Saturday, August 19, 2006 6:48 PM
To : "Discussion of aroids"
Subject : Re: [Aroid-l] Brooklyn Titan blooming

A Hello to ALL my friends on Aroid-L,

Too true, Dan, it certainly is wonderful to see a man like Alan Galloway`s
efforts and hard work acknowledged by Dave Horak who works for such a major
Bot. Garden. VERY well done, Alan, Dave and Dan!!
While we are on this subject, I`d like to take the opportunity to bring up
the name of one of if not the first person responsible for these now
seemingly common events, the blooming of the icon of all aroids,
Amorphophallus titanum. He was Dr. James (Jim) Symon, who pased away on
Oct. 21st., 1995. I think that what I wrote as my dedication on one of my
papers published in Aroideana back in 1997 says it all and bears repeating
at this time---

"I wish to dedicate this work to my friend, Dr. James Symon who has given
his all to investigate the species of giant Amorphophallus and to bring them
into cultivation via their seeds, all at his own expense. He has brought
happiness to many of his colleagues and to myself, but the final fruits of
his dream will only arrive when these seeds of A. titanum, A. gigas and
others, so joyfully collected and generously given, grow to maturity and
produce their magnificent inflorescences and their powerful odor can be
experienced by the masses!"

If at all possible, could the people who now have plants of these giants
that have bloomed or are blooming let us know, and more importantly, KEEP
RECORDS of where the seeds of these plants originated, as I do know that
besides Jim, a very few others, perhaps Alan, did manage to collect and
distribute seeds of these plants, and that the now-famous Craig Alen
actually produced a large number of viable seed from hand-pollination of
plants of A. titanum grown from wild-collected seed ex: Jim while Craig was
at Fairchild Gardens in Miami (Craig also bloomed A. gigas!!), but it would
be good to have some sort of record, much like a stud book kept by zoos on
rare animals, for these rare plants in our care.
Dan, please keep us informed of how the event goes and how well the plant
does, as one of the blooming events at Fairchild was 'spoilt', it was
suspected, by the moving of the plant with a seemingly mature bud ALMOST
ready to open from the humid area in the greenhouses where it was growing to
a larger and more acceptable area, the bud then 'sulked' and the bloom
refused to open! Good Luck! I so hope that you manage to obtain the
fresh pollen and that your plant in question produce viable seed!
Congrats to all involved, and keep up the great work!

Julius Boos

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