Re: [Aroid-l] Dieffenbachia hoffmannii photo?

From: ExoticRainforest <Steve at ExoticRainforest.com> on 2010.03.04 at 13:49:42 The photo in Graf's material is verysimilar to Dieffenbachia seguine (Jacq.)Schott.  That species has a ton of synonym names but since" hoffmanii"is not a legitimate name it isn't in the list.  As I stated earlier,Mr. Graf's books are a good photo source but Dr. Croat has pointed outin several personal conversations his photos are often improperlycaptioned. I would suggest you go to the link below, check the photo, then clickon "specimens" at the top of the page.  Scroll down to any that werecollected by Dr. Croat, scroll over to the right of the page and clickon his collection number.  There you will find where he collected italong with his field notes.  Frequently there is enough material thereto make a good ID of a plant, just read as many of Tom's notes aspossible. http://www.tropicos.org/Name/2106342 However, like all aroids this species can be variable.  If you click onthe synonyms on the first page you'll find a long list of additionalnames (now invalid) granted to this species.  My guess is you likelyhave a synonym of this species.  Although your plant is far too old tobe one of the recent tissue cultures there are many variations beingcreated in tissue culture of this species that can be bought at manystores.  I believe the speciesis in Dr. Croat's Revision of Dieffenbachia(Araceae) of Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies butI don't have a copy.   If you have access to JSTOR Isuggest you check out that source. For those on Aroid l not familiar with natural variability this linkmay be useful.  The article addresses why many of us have troublelearning what species we are growing.  I recently rewrote the entirepage and added a bunch of photos to illustrate how extreme variabilitycan be in aroid species.  I've already asked several well knownaroiders to read the info and so far only one objection has come backto one particular section.  I addressed that and feel relativelyconfident the material is scientifically accurate.  If any of you with a strong background in botany find an error I willquickly address the problem: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Natural%20variation%20within%20aroid%20and%20%20plant%20species.html Steve www.ExoticRainforest.com On 3/2/2010 08:10, Carol McCarthy wrote: Hello Steve, John, Conrad and anyone else reading along,        I checked my database yesterday, I got the name from thesame source John quotes; A.B. Graph's Exotica; page 172 of Edition 9 tobe more exact.  I will also note that the plant has been in one of twouniversity greenhouse here at WVU for at least 15 years.  From what Iknow of the collections, I do not believe that this material wascollected straight from habitat even back then.  Whether it was bought,traded for or a gift I do not have any records to enlighten me.  Thetwo professors who might know are both long retired.      We have been doing an inventory update of the greenhousecollections and working on correcting and updating questionable namesalong the way.  I guess for now, this one will stay questionable.      This Dieffenbachia grows very slowly and has a different,deeper green than most.  As the picture John attached shows a little,the petioles show stripes and or dots of lighter colors on the deepgreen ground color.  Currently the plant is at another greenhouseacross campus, I will try to get a picture of this plant, whatever itis, in the near future and post it.  Since we have established that D.hoffmannii is not a valid name does anyone have any suggestions as to acorrect identity?      Thanks to a great group for any help at all.   Carol.       Carol McCarthy Greenhouse Manager Biology Department West Virginia University PO Box 6057 53 Campus Drive Morgantown, WV 26506 304-293-5201 ext 31477 >>> "John" <criswick@spiceisle.com> 3/1/2010 2:19 PM>>> I cannotgive a source for the name Dieffenbachia hoffmannii but I have in the60s and 70s grown this Dieffenbachia, in fact it was a favourite ofmine.  The name is no longer valid, if it ever was, but D.‘Exotica’ or ‘arvida’ may be a mutation of it, whatever it is. Both are said by Graf to be from Costa Rica.   Theaccompanying illustration may perhaps answer questions about markingson stem and petiole.   John.     _______________________________________________Aroid-L mailing listAroid-L@www.gizmoworks.comhttp://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l --------------030907090004050707030109

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