Re[2]: Alocasia sanderiana and amazonica

From: alistair_hay at rbgsyd.gov.au on 1999.02.08 at 01:36:22(3013) The Alocasia longiloba group, to which all these and other things belong, is INDEED an excellent candidate for DNA analysis both in the wild and in cultivation. We have started doing extractions here. Alistair +More ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Alocasia sanderiana and amazonica Author: at mailgate Date: 06/2/99 23:37 Tsuh Yang Chen wrote: > I have a small plant from my local club labeled "sanderiana" but althou= gh it > has the sanderiana shape, it does not have the prominent white veins, t= he > veins being more muted brown. is it possible that it is a sanderiana o= r is it > mislabelled? Hi Chen, As the old cliché goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words!" Try to = get a few photos of different aspects of your putative A. sanderana, and either hav= e them scanned for posting on the IAS species identification site, or send the p= hotos off to Lester Kallus, the keeper of the ID site for him to scan and post = for you. You can find the link to him from the Links button on the IAS site = at http://hoya.mobot.org/ias/ Perhaps we can all give you our two bits wort= h then. > Also, what's the parentage of amazonica? There was a thread on this topic late last year: You can find it in the = archives at http://www.mallorn.com/lists/aroid-l/ According to Alocasia expert Da= vid Burnett in his very informative and nicely illustrated "The Cultivated Al= ocasia" of Aroideana Volume 7, Numbers 3 and 4 (http://hoya.mobot.org/ias/Society/bk-issue.html), the parentage of Aloca= sia x amazonica is historically listed as A. lowii x A. sanderana. However, I = spoke with noted aroid hybridizer John Banta today, and he gave me his observat= ions on the plant: Some years ago John had hybridized A. sanderana with A. watso= niana, and got progeny that were A. x amazonica in all respects. This seems ver= y plausible to me after noting photos of the plants in question in Burnett'= s book. Alocasia watsoniana has distinctively bullate leaves that seem to have ca= rried over into to the putative A. x amazonica hybrid. It is also possible acc= ording to John Banta that A. sanderana has such dominant traits that it can caus= e hybrids with several species, including A. lowii, to have the A. x amazon= ica appearance. It all sounds like an excellent candidate for DNA analysis at the molecul= ar level. Anyone know of possible grant money? Just kidding... Best regards, Scott Mr. Scott E. Hyndman Winter Park, Florida, USA USDA Hardiness Zone 9b

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