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  Xanthosoma violaceum/ doubts
From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at msn.com> on 2006.12.24 at 14:41:40(15013)
Reply-To : Discussion of aroids
Sent : Saturday, December 23, 2006 10:39 PM
To : "Discussion of aroids"
Subject : Re: [Aroid-l] Xanthosoma violaceum

Dear Jani and Pete,

In my posting (which just came up on aroid-), I mentioned that I feel that
there may be or that there is more than one specie involved in the
Xanthosoma violacium 'complex'. In years past at the Jamaican stores there
was only what they called 'red coco', it was EXPENSIVE, was a bright purple
color when you scraped of the scales at the growing tip, and grew w/ DARK
petioles, and this I believe was X. violacium, but then inports began from
Cen. America of another rhizome which closely resembled the rhizomes from
Jamaica, but were subtily different, less 'red', etc., and the plants that
grew from these 'new' rhizomes were also less 'black', and we had several
discussions on aroid-l where a person sent in a photo of a plant, some said
it was X. violacium, Eduardo said it was another specie, etc., So---until
someone (Eduardo?) does some THROUGH research on the cultivated Xanthosomas,
we must remain in the dark on their true identities.
I wonder if BOTH these plants bloom in cultivation? I do know that X.
'robustum' blooms VERY frequently, but was told by some Cuban folk that I
worked with that the Xanthosoma w/ a flesh of a bright yellow-color (X.
atrovirens?) inside a thick, cork-like almost black, hairy outer skin,
NEVER produced a bloom in cultivation in Cuba. I tried growing them twice,
both times the plants 'disapeared' from our Co. nursery!

Mertry Christmas!

Julius

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