Re: Winter-active aroids

From: "Robert Wagner" <robwagner at robwagner.seanet.com> on 1997.01.08 at 00:30:21(64) Al, most of the Mediterranean Aroids are wintergreen. Examples include Arisarum vulgare, Arum palestinum, A. dioscoridis, A. creticum. I'm not sure about the Biarums, not having grown them myself. Since winters in Mediterranean regions are mild and rainy, while summers are really too dry for the moisture-loving Aroids, the reversed growing season makes sense. It's facinating to me how a few members of this largely tropical family have spread into colder and drier climates with just a few simple adaptations. The Mediterranean Aroids are a particularly interesting group. The Biarums, for example, are among the most highly evolved of the Aroids, their inflorescenses having simplified down to just a few florets. These plants tolerate mild frosts but are not particularly hardy; most of them are probably risky in climates colder than USDA z8. A. italicum ranges into northwestern Europe, but even it goes limp during dry freezing weather. Robert +More ---------- > From: Al Wootten > To: robwagner@robwagner.seanet.com > Subject: Winter-active aroids > Date: Friday, January 03, 1997 11:13 AM > > MJ Hatfield writes: > > And Wayside Gardens, A Gardener's Treasury, has: > > Arum italicum 'Pictum' for only $14.95 > These prices seem appropriate for the Treasury. Two years ago, I planted > A. italicum (5 for $5 as I recall) among my Hosta, and have been delighted > each fall as they send up their foliage amidst the debris of the Hosta. > What others among the hardy aroids have a reverse season like A. italicum, > leafing over winter and blooming in the spring? > > By the way, thanks Wilbert and others for the taxonomy discussions. We > have similar problems in astronomy of course--witness the lovely thermal > classification scheme, strictly alphabetical, for stellar spectra devised > in the last century. Alas, helium was unknown, so spectra with helium > lines got thrown any old place and the alphabet has now become OBAFGKMRNS > with lots of letters lost by the wayside. But the naming of planetary > features, asteroids and the likes falls strictly under the rule of the > Commission on Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union. Although > whatever they say, is the law, any professional journal is full of > transgressions. > > Clear skies, > Al > +-------------------------------------------------------+ > | Alwyn Wootten (http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/) | > | Astronomer, National Radio Astronomy Observatory | > | 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475, USA| > | (804)-296-0329 voice Let's build The Millimeter Array| > | (804)-296-0278 FAX {> {> {> {> | > +------------------------------^-----^-----^-----^------+ > > > > > > > > > > > > >

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