Oceania

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2003.08.21 at 01:11:15(10525) I will soon be relocating to Hawaii. Obviously, there are many tropical aroids in cultivation there, but I have found it difficult to find information on what, if any, native species are present. Of course, I would expect to see wild populations of taro, since that has been in the islands from prehistoric times, and possibly native species of Schismatoglottis or Epipremnum, though I am not certain -- the islands are quite far from the Asian centres of these genera. Also, are there any good sources on the Araceae (or overall native flora) of Oceania in general, or of Micronesia (Caroline Islands) in particular? I am in process of planning an expedition there. Jason Hernandez +More Naturalist-at-Large

From: "Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden" htbg at ilhawaii.net> on 2003.08.21 at 01:24:41(10526) Dear Jason, There are no members of the Araceae native to the Hawaiian Islands. Being the most physically isolated archipelago in the world, natural introductions here were rare... averaging perhaps one every 60,000 years... leading to amazing adaptive radiation of those species that did arrive. Nevertheless, many aroids are cultivated here and many have naturalized. Welcome to Hawaii! +More Scott A. Lucas Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden P.O. Box 80 Papaikou, HI 96781 Phone: (808) 964-5233 FAX: (808) 964-1338 email: htbg@htbg.com Web Site: www.hawaiigarden.com ----- Original Message ----- To: Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 3:11 PM Subject: [aroid-l] Oceania > I will soon be relocating to Hawaii. Obviously, there are many tropical aroids in cultivation there, but I have found it difficult to find information on what, if any, native species are present. Of course, I would expect to see wild populations of taro, since that has been in the islands from prehistoric times, and possibly native species of Schismatoglottis or Epipremnum, though I am not certain -- the islands are quite far from the Asian centres of these genera. > > Also, are there any good sources on the Araceae (or overall native flora) of Oceania in general, or of Micronesia (Caroline Islands) in particular? I am in process of planning an expedition there. > > Jason Hernandez > Naturalist-at-Large > >

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