IAS Aroid Quasi Forum

About Aroid-L
 This is a continuously updated archive of the Aroid-L mailing list in a forum format - not an actual Forum. If you want to post, you will still need to register for the Aroid-L mailing list and send your postings by e-mail for moderation in the normal way.

  Re: For dracontium nuts
From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2002.04.05 at 01:15:40(8470)
OK---here we go---First off, as Wilbert suggested and Susan confirmed, the
photo is of D gigas, one of the two giant species of Dracontium found only
in Cen. America (the other is D. pittieri, more on that later). I have a
photo of a small-looking Caucasian man standing at the side of a plant of D.
gigas in bloom, the top of the spathe is at his mouth-level, so say close to
5 ft. tall?! The petiole (only the base is visible) must be at least 12+
ft tall, and is as thick as his forarm!
D. pittieri`s photo shows an infloresence held by two latin-looking men,
the top of the spathe is at least 9 ft. tall. The leaf is reported to be
as big/tall as D. gigas, the difference is that D. gigas has an
inflorescence shorter than the petiole, while D. pittieri has an
inflorescence as tall as the petiole, and the spathe is more
boat-shaped/pointed.
We auctioned plants of D. gigas last Sept. at the IAS show in Miami!!
They are sometimes available from 'nuts' on this list. WONDERFUL genus,
all 23 or so of them!!
The other 'odd-ball' S. American genera such as Taccarum, Synandrospadix,
Gorgonidium, etc. are also wonderfully strange aroids!! My buddy Bobby`s
FANTASTIC Taccarums, the largest I have seen or heard of in cultivation,
are just coming up, the short, paper-like blooms with a tall, 'shaggy'
spadix will soon follow, and with luck seed will be available in fall!!

Julius

+More
Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.