Subject: Amorphophallus (not so) titanum!!
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Sender: "Eduardo Gonçalves"
Subject: Amorphophallus (not so) titanum!!
Dear Aroiders,
I have been off-line lately, but I would like to add some comments
about such subject. I agree with Julius and also have seen some very
small (and young) aroids flowering. I saw in the field an Anthurium
lindmanianum flowering when it was 8cm tall (the usual flowering plants
are 50cm tall and some can reach 2m!!!). The same with Philodendron
acutatum and Xanthosoma striatipes. If you has done your homework,
you´re aware that all are somewhat distant related genera. Thus, this
behaviour must be widespread in the family. Obviously, we know that
bigger plants are most proned to flower than smaller ones, but it isnt a
dogma!! Lets remember that Jim´s titanums was collected in the wild (I
am not shure about it...) and had full genetic variability, because they
were seeds. It is possibly that ``precocious`` plants are eliminated in
the wild, but this selection do not apply to cultivated material.
Wilbert, correct if I am wrong, but I think that the range of
morphological variation in A. titanum still is poorly known. Flowering
individuals are rare and this range is possibly underestimate. I am not
discarding the possibility of a misindentification. In fact, all of your
titanum can be another thing, even a undiscribed Amorphophallus, closely
related to titanum, collected in fruit and redistributed to the people
of the list. Meanwhile, I still think it is a small titanum, playing a
trick on all of us. That´s why cultivation is one of the best weapon
against such narrow interpretations of the taxa. Thanks Kathy, for your
important contribution, unmasking things that wild plants hide... And
thanks Rob, for your skepticism that keeps science alive!
Anxiously waiting for the photos,
Eduardo.
>
>Dear All,
>I did not intend to get involved in this one as I do not grow
Amorphophallus
>sps., but am driven to note that we are dealing with an Aroid here, and
as
>we know (or should know!) Aroids do NOT conform! I have had seemingly
>"juvinile" plants of several genera bloom at an early age and size, and
>recently a friend had a 5" seedling(?) of Cyrtosperma cuspidispathum
bloom,
>and this is a plant that can get to 7-8ft. tall!! Amorphophallus
titanum
>is no exception, and I remember reading somewhere of other older
records of
>"undersized" (but not as small as Kathy`s) A. titanums blooming.
>Once again Kathy, congrats on a fantastic feat. I look forward to
seeing
>the photos.
>Cheers,
>Julius
>ju-bo@msn.com
>
>
>Ok, all you unbelievers!! I'm officially inviting any aroiders who
>will be in the area next week to come and see A. titanum when it
>will surely open. You can back me up then to the group!! We'll take
lots
>of photos and eventually make a herbarium specimen out of.
>
>You haven't convinced me that this is not a miniature inflorescence of
>titanum with your doubts! (by miniature, I mean about 2 feet tall)
>
>-Kathy Upton
>University of Missouri
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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