Re: 'Self-heading' Philodendrons.

From: "Eduardo Goncalves" edggon at hotmail.com> on 2001.09.07 at 01:42:35(7396) Dear Donna, Dispersers in aroids are even more poorly known than pollinators! Most species of Philodendron have ripe berries greenish or cream colored, that are usually inconspicuous. That aspect make them not so attractive to birds. However, most of them have a very strong smell of butyric acid (rancid butter). Such combination of aspects (together with pendent infructescens) make them strong candidates for bat-dispersed (or non-primate mammal dispersed) fruits. That is the case of most Philodendron subgen. Meconostigma (self-heading), and in fact the majority of species. Monkeys are usually curious herbivores and will taste everything they can put their hands (four hands) on. So they usually are found eating Philo seeds too. They are found eating everything, including our field snacks! It is true that some Amazonian species (including P. elaphoglossoides and others) have fruits that are bright red and showy. The berries are usually easy to pick as an unity, that make them serious candidates for bird dispersed fruits. Well, I am not so good with bromeliads (in fact, I think that the concept of genus in Bromeliaceae is almost senseless), but the plants are Vriesia-like. Ok, I know, it is not so informative... I think I have such information in home (I am in the lab right now), so I will write again later. Whatever, I don?t think there is a specific association, but I have NEVER found a "bromeliadless" P. leal-costae! There are other species that usually start to grow in bromeliads, including another Philo subg. Meconostigma from the Atlantic Coast (P. corcovadense). Seeds usually germinate in the tanks, probably because of the permanent water source. However, they are too big to spend his whole life growing there, so they send out roots to the soil and start to grow as an hemiepiphyte. This is a common association, but other species occasionally germinate in the tanks. It is a good place to be if you are a Philodendron seedling germinating in the canopy. Even in the rain forests, it is hard to keep a constant water supply if you are 30 m from the ground. Maybe Philodendron leal-costae it is just more specialized (once again, maybe because it grows in places where the water is not promptly available all the time). +More >From: SelbyHort@aol.com >Reply-To: aroid-l@mobot.org >To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L >Subject: Re: 'Self-heading' Philodendrons. >Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 10:13:47 -0500 (CDT) > >How are seeds of Philodendron leal-costae distributed, by birds perhaps? >Must >seeds go through the gut or craw of some animal before they can germinate >in >large bromeliad tank? >This species seems to always bring up many unanswered cultural questions >since so few are found in gardens anywhere. Eduardo, have you been to >habitat >and observed whether it will only grow associated with a specific bromeliad >species? > >Donna > ><< What about put it in the tank of a monster Vriesea-like bromeliad, >just > like it occurs in the wild? I couldn?t try this method because I do not >have > room for something like this in my collection. In near future, maybe I >will > grow a big tank bromeliad, with plenty of Anthurium bromelicola, A. >mourae > and Philodendron leal-costae, all of them known to grow in places like >this! > (together with some frogs, snakes and mosquitoes, that are also found in > those tanks) > >> _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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