From: Todd Ruth <truth at weber.ucsd.edu> on 1997.01.08 at 00:36:22(66)
I finally made a visit to The Huntington yesterday. The drive from
San Diego to San Marino wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected :).
They had a plant that was very similar in appearance to a Monstera
Deliciosa, but the slits were deeper (almost all the way to the
center) and there were no holes. Another difference was that the
infructesence was a very pale blue, almost grey, and had a smaller
diameter than I would have expected of a M Deliciosa of that size.
I couldn't find a label, so I called today and asked for an id.
I was told that it was a Rhaphidophora Decursiva and that they come
from South East Asia. I immediately started looking for info on the
web, but all I could find was a mention in the IAS pages that
Rhaphidophora had been retired in favor of Philodendron (if I'm
reading http://www.mobot.org/IAS/genframe.html right).
Does anyone out there know the "latest and greatest" name for
this plant? The person I spoke with was Kathy at (818)405-2163.
I asked if they could be included in the plant sale they have
on the 3rd Sunday in May and she said she would pass my interest
on to the person who decides what to propagate. If you are also
interested, I would encourage calling the Huntington as well.
Currently it is far from definite that the species will be included
and perhaps if more people called they would not only be more
likely to include it, but be more active in propagating.
I counted 6 infructusences without moving any foliage, so they
have a lot of seed. Perhaps they'd be willing to sell some seed?
The indications I got were that they don't sell seed anymore,
but maybe if there was enough interest... If anyone knows of
any other sources, I'd be interested.
Thanks,
Todd Ruth
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