Re: aglaonemas

From: "Clarence Hammer" chammer at cfl.rr.com> on 2001.10.28 at 03:52:16(7695) Hello George and all, The 'hybrid swarm' I mentioned is documented in the 'Aglaonema Grower's Notebook' by Roy Jervis, originally published 1978, my copy is 1980. It concerns Aglaonema commutatum Schott. I will quote, but will have to do some mild editing of references to pictures and drawings. " Luzon's Aglaonema commutatum. Ever since Schott described Aglaonema commutatum, this variable plant has been a popular house plant, not the plant of the original description, but in many related variants. Variegations making this plant so appealing are numerous and have induced botanists to describe some of them as new species. So we had A. elegans of Engler, A. marantifolium var. maculatum of Hooker f., and A. 'Treubii' as examples of the Aglaonema from Luzon. Nicholson simplified the handling of the group by delineating Schotts' plant as A. commutatum var. commutatum, making the plant of Hooker into var. maculatum, and convincingly proving that A. cv. 'Treubii' could not possibly be the A. treubii that Engler described in 1898 and then emended (verbatim sp.) so that it cannot be identified." "Another confusing element is the solid green plant with absolutely no variegation that occasionally pops up as A. cuscuaria, which is a trade name also used for the original spotted A. commutatum.'' ''Often amid confusion, a chance happening can bring order out of chaos. This apparently happened in March, 1980, when (Dr.) Frank Brown was guided to a remote mountain side in Rizal province in the Philippines to see some Aglaonema that had been found by chance a short time earlier. While the results may not have eliminated the chaos, at least the chaos has an explanation. .....Some of the variants that were part of this stand of Aglaonemas came, not from a few plants, but each represents a pattern consistent to an individual plant -- dozens of new 'species for the naming'! One...duplicates the new cultivar 'Alumina'." "Many of these Rizal leaf-forms have appeared in cultivars, but this is the first instance I know of where they have been collected together in the wild. The isolated locale of this stand of Aglaonemas tends to rule out 'escape from cultivation' as an explanation for their occurrence. At least several hundred plants have been removed from this locale since Dr. Brown and his companions first visited the spot. Local nurserymen heard about the find and, until the rainy season stopped their visits, they collected large numbers for shipment to Bankok and Singapore. The plants appear to be a giant 'hybrid swarm', not just a few plants from a chance cross, but from a more complex parentage and background." "The species seems to be in the flux of development, probably from natural hybridization involving A. crispum (Pitcher & Manda) Nicholson, A. philippinense Engler, and A. simplex Blume. ...The more complicated +More genetics of introgressive hybridization over long periods of time in the wild environment ..(is) truly a taxonomic nightmare." "Some of the leaf variegations have already appeared in named cultivars, being distributed from Manila to Bangkok and Singapore, from Jack Craig of Cebu, Ely Bardinas in Los Banos, from the Glasshouse in Ohio, and from Jack Brown." End quote. Some of the more than 100 leaf forms of plants that Dr. Brown brought from Luzon to Manila, and then to his residence at that time in Indialantic Fla were selected for cultivation and named as cultivars. 'Jose Rizal' with "intricately patterned bands down''...the center ''of leaf blades''. Cultivar 'Treubii' is another selection and is fairly common today. 'Alumina' is still available from time to time, with a ''metallic sheen that resembles dull burnished aluminum''. 'Superba' has a ''pale sheen of silver set off by narrow dark green marginal and midvein patterns''. 'Moonglow' has ''feather markings of f. elegans which are delicately masked by the overall silver glow." A similar plant from Luzon is Jack Craig's 'Mutton-fat Jade', ''a cultivar in which the silvery sheen disguises a pale variegation over the entire blade, producing a truly magnificent Aglaonema.'' Other cultivars named by Dr Brown are 'Dr. Holzer', 'Echo' and 'President Marcos'. I see what I believe is 'Mutton-fat Jade' being propagated and sold as unnamed plants by nurserymen in the Apopka Fla area. They are indeed beautiful, and I love the thick, almost leathery, silvery leaves on this very special Aglaonema. Russ George Yao wrote--- > Can you tell me more about the discovery of this 'giant hybrid swarm'? I've > never of this before and it sounds very interesting. > >

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