From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2003.09.07 at 06:13:24(10563)
Derek and others,
The main point here is that this could be either paeoniifolius or
koratensis. Both have rough warty leaf stalks. Thus far, separating them on
the basis of leaf characters is partly possible. After all my years of
experience with phalloids, I think I can even keep them apart 100% but
that's not something that can be explained easily. Generally, when the leaf
stalk is uniformly plain green, or largely or the lower part purplish red,
or it has darker yet really small but myriads of (confluent) spots on a
green background, then it is likely to be koratensis. Also in koratensis,
the individual leaflets are more rounded and often the largest diameter of
the largest leaflets is situated just above the middle of it.
Paeoniifolius has rather large spots in 90% of cases. I have yet to find a
paeoniifolius with a plain green leaf stalk or with the characters mentioned
above for koratensis. The leaflets are narrower and the largest diameter is
usually at the middle. If you find a "paeoniifolius" like plant (warty
tubers) with a smooth leaf stalk, then it is paeoniifolius. Some clones have
that.
Both have tubers that are hard to separate when in markets etc. but they
always have strongly raised rootscars that make them look warty. In
cultivation it is all quite easy to separate the species by tuber
characters: koratensis makes long rhizomatous offsets, paeoniifolius short
ones, often even globosish. Often, when the plants are marketed, offsets are
no longer present and usually torn off during uprooting.
That's all folks,
Wilbert
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