Re: gigantic leaf species around the world

From: alistair_hay_at_po-sydney at rbgsyd.gov.au on 1998.08.14 at 00:52:34(2530) In the aroids, the largest undivided leaf I know of is that of Alocasia robusta, which is found in North West Borneo, and the Natuna Islands. The largest leaves recorded (by Tony Lamb) had blades about 15 feet long and 8 feet wide, on petioles about 18 feet long. This was on a plant growing in Sabah. This species has often been misidentified as Alocasia macrorrhizos, which, though large, is much smaller than A. robusta. A. robusta was the species in Attenborough's film. Whether this is the largest undivided leaf is a matter of interpretation. Palm leaves develop undivided and then tear themselves up - of course there are many examples of enormous palm leaves. Banana leaves also develop undivided and are constructed such that they shred in the wind in a fairly organised fashion. Some species, such as New Guinea Musa ingens, are truly gigantic, with the leaf sheath alone reaching about 20 feet in length. Alistair Hay +More ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: gigantic leaf species around the world Author: at mailgate Date: 8/12/98 11:16 PM Hi, all I received the enclosed email, but there are many more qualified people in aroid-l to answer this question than myself, so I'm forwarding it to the collective attention of aroid-l... > From: Babirussa8@aol.com > > I am interested in locating the largest undivided leaves in the world. > (...) It seems there are two families with gigantic leaves: Xanthosoma > Saggitifolia and Alocosia Macrorrhiza (...) I am curious about how large > they have been documented in the wild, and of course, in what parts of the > world. If it is not too much trouble, please provide as exact dimensions > and locations as possible. I have listed my address and phone below, or > you may simply RE this message to my email. Thank you for your time and > assistance. > > Sincerely, > > Daisuke Shintani > PO Box 674 > Reigelsville, PA 18077 > (610) 749 - 0401 ----- On a separate topic, there's been a bunch of updates to my aroid pages - some of the more interesting ones are: http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Arum/hygrophilum.html http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Alocasia/crassifolia.html http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Alocasia/micholitziana.html http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Xanthosoma/maffafa_aurea.html I also have four unidentified alocasia hybrids; if someone could ID them, I'd really appreciate it. http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Alocasia/unknown.A.html http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Alocasia/unknown.B.html http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Alocasia/unknown.D.html http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Alocasia/unknown.E.html as well as two anthuriums: http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Anthurium/unknown.A.html http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/Araceae/Anthurium/unknown.html (my guesses: veitschii and andreanum ?) Finally, if anyone finds that the old bookmarks to my pages don't work, it is because for some unfathomable reason my IP provider decided that personal pages cannot be reached via www.netgate.net any more, and have to be specified with u1,netgate.net instead ... Cheers KK ==================== Krzysztof Kozminski kk@netgate.net http://u1.netgate.net/~kk/

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