From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 1999.06.15 at 03:00:15(3439)
>>Doug wrote < Now...Helicodiceros...here's a plant whose
bloom could literally 'wake the dead'. <
Dear Lucy,
It is not called the dead horse arum for nothing!! Deni Bown, in her
WONDERFUL book on Aroids, speculates that the hairy spadix resembles an
animals tail, and the entry to the pinkish, hairy (!) spathe, it`s anus!
The stench is said to be PRETTY bad!!! One could remove the entire
inflorsence before it opened, but where is your sense of adventure, of fun,
if you were to perform this sacrilege??? When it flowers, WELCOME the
beautiful buzzards and carrion crows, the ravens circling overhead, the
wolves, the foxes and other wild dogs baying at your door, the white-hooded
neighbors with torches, guns, pitch forks, clubs and ropes with nooses!
THIS is life of an Aroid lover, pure and simple, real and raw!!
I have seen this truly beautiful Aroid in collections from time to time, but
it is said not to do well in sunny Florida, maybe it needs a cool rest
period, but as we Trinidadians say, "go brave"!!!
For all Aroid folk, a reminder that there are WONDERFUL color photographs
AND line drawings of this and in fact ALL the known genera of Aroids,
together with all the information one could ask about Aroids, in the large
Volume "The Genera of Araceae" by S.J. Mayo, J. Bogner and Peter Boyce,
three of the World`s foremost Aroid researchers, and I believe this book is
still available from our intrepid President, Mr. Dewey Fisk, at--
plantnut@macconnect.com
It is a great value, not cheap, but WELL worth the price!!!
Sincerely,
Julius
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