Dracunculus vulgaris

From: grsjr at juno.com (George R Stilwell, Jr.) on 1997.04.01 at 23:11:22(556) The Daffodil Mart in Glouster, VA is offering D. vulgaris, 22-24 cm bulbs, 10/$25, 50/$106. Sauromatum venosum 10/$10, 50/$42. +More 50 Dragon plants and 50 Voodoo Lilies all in bloom, it blows the mind. Ray GRSJr@Juno.com

From: Al Wootten <awootten at NRAO.EDU> on 1997.04.02 at 14:29:01(561) George R. Stilwell, Jr. writes: > The Daffodil Mart in Glouster, VA is offering D. vulgaris, 22-24 cm > bulbs, 10/$25, 50/$106. > Sauromatum venosum 10/$10, 50/$42. > 50 Dragon plants and 50 Voodoo Lilies all in bloom, it blows the mind. > > Ray +More > GRSJr@Juno.com > My goodness! I happen to be just about in Gloucester right now, cursing the fact that the same two movies have been playing all Easter when unbeknownst to me Dracunculus vulagris was playing up the street. Thanks for the pointer, Ray, I will head over and pick some up. This is the Queen of the Daffodil Festival in my eyes (this weekend)! Clear skies, Al +---------------------------------------------------------+ |Al Wootten, Slacktide, Sturgeon Creek at the Rappahannock| |Astronomer (http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/) | |genealogy homepage http://members.tripod.com/~astral | |Deltaville, Virginia (804)776-6369 | +---------------------------------------------------------+

From: "James W. Waddick" <jim-jim at swbell.net> on 1997.09.30 at 14:45:37(1355) Dear Aroid-L and International Bulb Society (address deleted) There has been a few comments on the International Bulb Society email robin about the foliage patterns of Dracunculus vulgaris. I hope both Aroid -L and the International Bulb Society can shed some light on foliage patterns in this species. Can anyone comment? Is the amount of white/silver in the foliage - genetically stable or variable? - related to geographic origin? - found in specific patterns? - associated with named forms? - coorelated with spathe colors? I quote: Some "Dracunculus vulgaris have green leaves or are ... marked with white/silver. Which is "typical"? J. Waddick +More "Both plain green and silver-streaked leaves are typical of Dracunculus vulgaris; the degree of streaking varies quite a lot and some clones are very well marked indeed. I believe that I'm right in saying that most Dracunculus in commerce (at least in the past) have been wild collected and therefore the cultivated stock is very variable, unlike the grim uniformity of most bulbs propagated commercially. J. Grimshaw Thanks for input Jim Waddick James W. Waddick Voice: 816 746 1949 8871 NW Brostrom Rd E-MAIL: jim-jim@swbell.net Kansas City MO 64152 Fax: 816 746 1939 Zone 5/6 - Winter low -10°F Summer high +100°F

From: Martyn Denney <martyn at denney.demon.co.uk> on 1997.10.01 at 13:29:53(1361) In message , "James W. Waddick" writes >Dear Aroid-L and International Bulb Society (address deleted) > There has been a few comments on the International Bulb Society >email robin about the foliage patterns of Dracunculus vulgaris. I hope >both Aroid -L and the International Bulb Society can shed some light on >foliage patterns in this species. Can anyone comment? > Is the amount of white/silver in the foliage > - genetically stable or variable? > - related to geographic origin? > - found in specific patterns? > - associated with named forms? > - coorelated with spathe colors? > >I quote: > Some "Dracunculus vulgaris have green leaves or are ... marked with >white/silver. Which is "typical"? > J. Waddick > > "Both plain green and silver-streaked leaves are typical of >Dracunculus vulgaris; the degree of streaking varies quite a lot and some >clones are very well marked indeed. > I believe that I'm right in saying that most Dracunculus in >commerce (at least in the past) have been wild collected and therefore the >cultivated stock is very variable, unlike the grim uniformity of most bulbs >propagated commercially. > > J. Grimshaw > > Thanks for input Jim Waddick > I believe it is also true that the division between plain leaves and streaking is at least partly geographic. All the forms I have seen in Crete have been streaked - no plain leaves at all, whilst on Rhodes I recall plenty of plain leaved plants but none with streaked leaves. -- Martyn Denney +More Farnborough, Hampshire, UK.

From: plantnut at shadow.net (Dewey Fisk) on 1997.10.11 at 05:14:53(1424) For those of you that have asked for a source for the subject plant... Mrs. Teresa Glover 907 Buford Rd. Cumming, GA 30731 (770) 887-0749 Enjoy! Dewey +More Dewey E. Fisk, Plant Nut THE PHILODENDRON PHREAQUE Your Source for Tropical Araceae

From: Lester Kallus <lkallus at earthlink.net> on 1998.04.30 at 21:41:12(2062) Living in zone 7a but with an 8a winter this past winter, I decided to try Dracunculus vulgaris. I just received two and probably should have planned earlier but didn't. +More My questions are: How much light should I let the plant have? I presume that shade with dappled sun would be best, but am not certain. Next -- any specific soil preferred? Should I add more compost? There's great drainage here (basically an ex-sandpit) but I get annual deliveries of oak leaf compost. Next to last -- what's the expected height of the plant when flowering and when mature? Finally - if I never dip below 7a, will it truly be reliably hardy or should I give up and bring it in as I do other plants? If so, will it be forming a tuber? Thanks, Les

From: "Plantsman" plantsman at prodigy.net> on 2001.02.15 at 20:22:40(5948) Hello all, I was wondering if anyone in the USA has a few blooming size dormant Dracunculus vulgaris corms that they would be interested in selling for a reasonable price. All mine are at least one or two years away from being blooming size and I'm tired of waiting. Any responses would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, David Sizemore +More Kingsport, TN plantsman@prodigy.net

From: Cgdz33a at aol.com on 2001.02.15 at 21:14:45(5949) I ordered Dracunculus vulgaris from Park seed company this past fall (12 in total) and 4 have just finished blooming and the rest should be any day now. I was pleasantly suprised by their size. Eric C. Morgan +More Clark Botanic Garden Long Island NY

From: "Peter C Boyce" levieux.jardin at wanadoo.fr> on 2003.07.18 at 13:48:55(10407) Dear All I've just had a couple of private enquiries regarding Dracunculus vulgaris and I thought that my reply to these might also be of interest to roid-l folks. ----- +More Dracunculus vulgaris is native to the Balkans, the Aegean Islands and SW Turkey. Collections from Italy are possibly introduced and those from further west and from North Africa certainly represent introductions or escapes (the seed is bird-dispersed) and not indigenous plants. In the wild D. vulgaris grows in a wide range of habitats including maquis and garrigue and undisturbed olive groves as well as occurring spontaneously in waste land. It is a typical Mediterranean cryptophyte (a plant spending some of each year as a dormant underground storage organ such as a bulb or corm) and requires a warm, wet winter and spring (the growing period) and a hot dry summer (the dormant period). In habitat the plant is almost always associated with lime-rich soils, often somewhat clayey and nutrient rich and does best in cultivation when grown in the open ground in full sun or very light shade. In places that are too cold over the winter (minimum temperature less than -10C) it will require a very sheltered position or cultivation in a large terracotta pot in a mineral-rich soil and given ample water and weekly feeding with a tomato-type fertilizer. Pot-grown plants will need annual repotting or potting on with fresh compost. Whether open ground or in a pot the top of the tuber needs to be about 10 cm below the soil surface. Plants grown strongly can easily attain 1.5 meters or more in height and produce a spathe to 1 meter or slightly more in length. Dracunculus vulgaris displays a lot of variation in overall size, degree of leaf division and leaf marking. One form popular in cultivation has strong white chevron markings on the leaf and a pronounced snakeskin patterning on the stem and has been called var. cretensis, however neither this nor any of the plants described based on similar makings variations are upheld as taxonomically distinct from D. vulgaris. The status of the 'white' Dracunculus plants originally reported from the Kamares region of central Crete, but now also known from Rhodes, is not clear. These have a pale greenish white to pale yellowish spathe limb and deep purple spadix appendix. Since the first reports in the early 1970s a number of other forms have been found in the same area with variously marbled purple and white spathes and pale lilac to deep purple spadix appendices. Apart from the colours, such plants are morphologically indistinguishable from the typical plants and it appears they are sports of D. vulgaris. There are report s from ?anakkale in northwestern Turkey of an interesting form of D. vulgaris with a white-haired spathe and spadix appendix. Nothing further is known about this plant. ----- Peter

From: James Waddick jwaddick at kc.rr.com> on 2003.07.22 at 14:52:31(10419) Dear Alan- Your bicolor spathe form and Wilbert's All white and Peter's detailed report on this genus inspired me to write a botanist friend in Turkey and here's some comments to share: "There are four variants of this plant ...: 1. Var. laevigatus Engler: described from Rhodos Island, was distinguished by its smooth spadix and absence of sterile flowers; similar forms occur in Europe. +More 2. Var. elongatus Engler: seems to represent the upper limit of variation in spathe length. 3. Var. ??? (can be considered so): is noteworthy in having both spathe and spadix densely covered in very short white hair-like processes from ?anakkale, (Kirk 1856). 4. Var. ??? (can be considered so): a similar but much less dense indumentum occurs on another specimen from the same area Assos in ?anakkale, (Sint. 1883:813). It appears that it is not a pure species, but with many conspecific taxa. This can be also be justified from its wide occurrence in almost 1/3rd of Turkey." I don't know if these varietal names are valid, but I'll try to send him out to Canakkale next spring to take pics and maybe collect seed. Now about those white flowered Cretan plants. Can't some S. European aroider just run by and collect seed which should be ripe now? It is so close. Best Jim W. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 E-fax 419-781-8594 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +

From: "Peter C Boyce" levieux.jardin at wanadoo.fr> on 2003.07.22 at 16:25:47(10420) Dear Jim With the possible exception of the hairy-spathed form Dracunculus vulgaris is without much doubt one variable species - if you find that hard to swallow, think of it in terms of human beings; some are tall, some short, some pale skinned with red hair & green eyes, some pale skinned with white hair and blue eyes, some dark skinned, some hairy, some less hairy, some hairless, etc, etc. Pete +More ----- Original Message ----- To: Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 4:52 PM Subject: [aroid-l] Dracunculus vulgaris > Dear Alan- Your bicolor spathe form and > Wilbert's All white and > Peter's detailed report on this genus > inspired me to write a botanist friend in Turkey and here's > some comments to share: > > "There are four variants of this plant ...: > 1. Var. laevigatus Engler: described from Rhodos Island, was distinguished > by its smooth spadix and absence of sterile flowers; similar forms occur in > Europe. > 2. Var. elongatus Engler: seems to represent the upper limit of variation in > spathe length. > 3. Var. ??? (can be considered so): is noteworthy in having both spathe and > spadix densely covered in very short white hair-like processes from > ?anakkale, (Kirk 1856). > 4. Var. ??? (can be considered so): a similar but much less dense indumentum > occurs on another specimen from the same area Assos in ?anakkale, (Sint. > 1883:813). > > It appears that it is not a pure species, but with many > conspecific taxa. This can be also be justified from its wide > occurrence in almost 1/3rd of > Turkey." > > I don't know if these varietal names are valid, but I'll try > to send him out to Canakkale next spring to take pics and maybe > collect seed. > > Now about those white flowered Cretan plants. Can't some S. > European aroider just run by and collect seed which should be ripe > now? It is so close. > > Best Jim W. > -- > Dr. James W. Waddick > 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. > Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 > USA > Ph. 816-746-1949 > E-fax 419-781-8594 > > Zone 5 Record low -23F > Summer 100F + >

From: "Peter C Boyce" levieux.jardin at wanadoo.fr> on 2003.07.22 at 16:27:51(10421) Oh, yes, on the basis of your Turkish friend there should be FIVE varieties - if you have a variety other than the typical form then you must also have var. vulgaris - how is THAT defined? Pete +More ----- Original Message ----- To: Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 4:52 PM Subject: [aroid-l] Dracunculus vulgaris > Dear Alan- Your bicolor spathe form and > Wilbert's All white and > Peter's detailed report on this genus > inspired me to write a botanist friend in Turkey and here's > some comments to share: > > "There are four variants of this plant ...: > 1. Var. laevigatus Engler: described from Rhodos Island, was distinguished > by its smooth spadix and absence of sterile flowers; similar forms occur in > Europe. > 2. Var. elongatus Engler: seems to represent the upper limit of variation in > spathe length. > 3. Var. ??? (can be considered so): is noteworthy in having both spathe and > spadix densely covered in very short white hair-like processes from > ?anakkale, (Kirk 1856). > 4. Var. ??? (can be considered so): a similar but much less dense indumentum > occurs on another specimen from the same area Assos in ?anakkale, (Sint. > 1883:813). > > It appears that it is not a pure species, but with many > conspecific taxa. This can be also be justified from its wide > occurrence in almost 1/3rd of > Turkey." > > I don't know if these varietal names are valid, but I'll try > to send him out to Canakkale next spring to take pics and maybe > collect seed. > > Now about those white flowered Cretan plants. Can't some S. > European aroider just run by and collect seed which should be ripe > now? It is so close. > > Best Jim W. > -- > Dr. James W. Waddick > 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. > Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 > USA > Ph. 816-746-1949 > E-fax 419-781-8594 > > Zone 5 Record low -23F > Summer 100F + >

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