Strange leaf anomalies in Colocasia

From: Krzysztof Kozminski kk at kozminski.com> on 2002.09.06 at 05:42:29(9346) Hi, I am forwarding a message from a fellow on another email list, regarding weird-shaped leaves in his Colocasia. Can anyone shed some light on what's going on there? Please CC Barry in the reply (doobieous@yahoo.com) KK http://www.kozminski.com +More ------------------------------------------------------------- "They both savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." I am growing taro in my garden (yeah, not the typical medit plant, although they need much less water than most websites will have you believe). Anyway, these were the typical store bought cormels (less than two to three inches long). I planted them out in late march and they have been growing well. They're not at a decent size and interestingly one of the shoots that developed shows an interesting abberation every few leaves or so (well two so far). The two leaves showing this abberation look like this: Still peltate, but as if you have two arrow head shaped leaves joined together. So instead of being trilobed, it has four lobes, and looks "folded" down the middle. It's hard to imagine, and I really must get some pictures, but i wonder if this is common for aroids to do this, especially peltate ones? The other plants have been displaying normal peltate leaves, even the other large shoot shows normal leaves (although that one shows some slight damage). I even have another separate cormel growing with very nice, rounded, ruffled leaves. Here's links to pictures I took of the weird leaf anomaly: http://home.csumb.edu/g/garciabarry/world/plants/taroanomaly1.jpg Side view, underside of one of the leaves http://home.csumb.edu/g/garciabarry/world/plants/taroanomaly2.jpg http://home.csumb.edu/g/garciabarry/world/plants/taroanomaly3.jpg Side view showing "conjoining" Anyway, there you have it. What the pics don't show is that the stem is much thicker than usual, and it looks like there are spots where new leaves can emerge on either side of the stem. It's like the terminal bud developed two leaves at the same time and they fused. _____________________________________ Barry Garcia Marina, CA, zone 17, bordering on 16 USDA zone 9

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2002.09.06 at 22:44:05(9355) Hello! I`ll take a stab at this--they look like Colocasia esculenta antiquorum, the eddeoe of the food trade. They are known to grow more 'dry' than most other forms of taro. The abberation is not a super-rare one, aroids do this more often than you think, it seems like the terminal bud wants to 'divide' or branch, but did not quite make it all the way, hence the conjoined leaves. You will also see this in some aroid blooms, tho spadices or spathes, or partially divided spadices/spathes. There was a discussion some time ago when One member reported a twin spadix. Nice photos---thenks!! Those tubers are GOOD peeled and used instead of potatoes in split pea soups!! Julius +More WPB, Florida. >>Hi, I am forwarding a message from a fellow on another email list, regarding weird-shaped leaves in his Colocasia. Can anyone shed some light on what's going on there? Please CC Barry in the reply (doobieous@yahoo.com) KK http://www.kozminski.com ------------------------------------------------------------- "They both savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." > I am growing taro in my garden (yeah, not the typical > medit plant, although they need much less water than > most websites will have you believe). Anyway, these > were the typical store bought cormels (less than two > to three inches long). I planted them out in late > march and they have been growing well. They're not at > a decent size and interestingly one of the shoots that > developed shows an interesting abberation every few > leaves or so (well two so far). > > The two leaves showing this abberation look like this: > > Still peltate, but as if you have two arrow head > shaped leaves joined together. So instead of being > trilobed, it has four lobes, and looks "folded" down > the middle. It's hard to imagine, and I really must > get some pictures, but i wonder if this is common for > aroids to do this, especially peltate ones? > > The other plants have been displaying normal peltate > leaves, even the other large shoot shows normal leaves > (although that one shows some slight damage). I even > have another separate cormel growing with very nice, > rounded, ruffled leaves. > Here's links to pictures I took of the weird leaf > anomaly: > > http://home.csumb.edu/g/garciabarry/world/plants/taroanomaly1.jpg > > Side view, underside of one of the leaves > > http://home.csumb.edu/g/garciabarry/world/plants/taroanomaly2.jpg > > From above > > http://home.csumb.edu/g/garciabarry/world/plants/taroanomaly3.jpg > > Side view showing "conjoining" > > Anyway, there you have it. What the pics don't show is > that the stem is much thicker than usual, and it looks > like there are spots where new leaves can emerge on > either side of the stem. It's like the terminal bud > developed two leaves at the same time and they fused. > _____________________________________ > > Barry Garcia > Marina, CA, zone 17, bordering on 16 > USDA zone 9

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2002.09.07 at 23:48:01(9363) In a message dated 9/6/2002 5:16:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ju-bo@msn.com writes: > You will also see this in some aroid blooms, tho +More > spadices or spathes, or partially divided spadices/spathes. There was a > discussion some time ago when One member reported a twin spadix. I forget -- was that me, with the Caladuim spadix? Jason Hernandez Naturalist-at-Large

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2002.09.08 at 11:42:19(9364) In a message dated 9/6/2002 5:16:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ju-bo@msn.com writes: > You will also see this in some aroid blooms, tho +More > spadices or spathes, or partially divided spadices/spathes. There was a > discussion some time ago when One member reported a twin spadix. Dear Jason, It might have been! I remember that several people came back w/ stories ofthe same type of experiences they were having with several aroids that had 'double' spadices and leaves. I THINK I spoke about a double spadix I had come across on a Philo. 'Xanadu'. Good growing! Julius >>I forget -- was that me, with the Caladuim spadix? Jason Hernandez Naturalist-at-Large<<

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