To I.D. ANY Aroid.

From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at msn.com> on 2007.07.29 at 19:05:39(16014) Reply-To : Discussion of aroids Sent : Wednesday, July 25, 2007 9:44 AM To : Discussion of aroids Subject : Re: [Aroid-l] Amydrium or Rhaphidophora Dear Helmut, Please allow me a moment to attempt to explain how a taxonomist may I.D. any specimen sent to him. In MOST cases, the plant specimen, or better yet a series of specimens (or in rare cases a series of GOOD photos which MUST show an ADULT plant, and infloresence, and should show close-ups of the spadix at male anthesis) should be of a mature plant, and have several leaves in which the examiner can look closely at both sides of the leaf blade, and the petiole, rhizome, etc. The specimens MUST have good collecting data attached. The genera in which you are interested (you list them below) are almost impossible to I.D. to genus, far less to a species in a juvenile stage of growth and without collecting data. In the case of Anthurium, unless you can supply COLLECTION DATA it may be impossible to ID a specimen even WITH an infloresence. This genus occurs widely, from Mexico, through Cen. America and the West Indies and down throughout South America to Uruguay, over 800 species, many undescribed, plus there are MANY 'man-made' hybrids in cultivation, so without critical collection data it is impossible for even the expert on the genus Anthurium, who just happens to be Dr. Tom Croat, to give anything more then a qualified guess based on just a photo. My advice to you is to obtain collection data from any collections you may visit, as without this the plants you see or even get cuttings of can NOT be I.D.`d with any accuracy even to genus, as all juvenile vine-like Aroids look very much alike. Take photos of their ADULT leaves, their petioles ( their length, amount/length of the sheath, shape in cross section, etc. etc. etc.), their rhizomes, etc., and then grow them till they bloom. Cut a portion of the spathe away and photograph the details of the sexual parts. With the above information Dr. Thomas Croat and Mr. Pete Boyce, who happen to be two of THE World experts on most Aroid genera, may be able to give you an accurate identification of any aroid. We on aroid-l are so fortunate to have Tom and Pete at 'our fingertips' to give advice and to identify (when they can!) aroids from just a photo, or sometimes just a written discription, but collection data is necessary, otherwise an I.D. by ANYONE is just an educated guess. (Thanks Tom and Pete!) Good Growing and Best Regards, Sincerely, Julius Boos +More WPB, FLORIDA Hallo Christopher Rogers, Thank ´s for your contribution to the theme. I also want to thank Peter for his helpful advice. To all the aroiders I ´d like to start a further discussion about distinguishing beetween Monstera/Epipremnum/Pothos/ Raphidophorum/Amydrium and other very similar genera, so far that the origin of the single species is not known. I have, gathered, from different collections in Europe, a wide variety of lookalikes and would appreciate any help in identification. The Aroid Identification Center of course is a valuable help, but sometimes I get no results (eg. my Id request of an Anthurium, where even Tom ´s identification is still not satisfactory) or at least not to helpful. Regarding Monstera, Raphidophorum & Co, can anybody recommend any helpful literatur (additional to the renowned books of Bogner, Mayo, Boyce; Deni Bown; Tom Croat or widespread articles in Aoideana)? Can anybody name a specialized expert on these genera? I can take picts of my "aliens" and would like to put them in the net, while I do the same in Aroid-ID. Best regards Helmut _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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