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Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 7:23 AM
Subject: Re: alocasia nomenclature question
> RE: alocasia nomenclature questionHi Darrin
>
> Tom has cc'd your Alocasia question to me for comment.
>
> First, a bit of background on the thorny issue of the correct names to
apply
> to cultivated elements of Alocasia longiloba.
>
> Alocasia longiloba is, in the wild, a highly variable species, with there
> existing populations of plants that are stably 'distinct' from typical A.
> longiloba, others where plants intergrade from one 'species' to the next
and
> others where plants are a complete mix of distinct and indistinct plants,
> all intergrading. At times over the past 200-odd years plant collectors
have
> brought into cultivation the most striking plants from these various
> populations and introduced them into cultivation from where they were
often
> described as new species but, and this is the critical thing, without the
> ability to refer back to the wild originating population to check whether
> the distinctness of the new species was stable. The result of this is that
> when it came time to study the wild populations in order to make some
sense
> of the things in cultivation it became clear that, despite the
'distinctness
> ' of many of the plants in cultivation, all the barriers separating say A.
> lowii from A. longiloba fell to pieces in the wild and that these
'species'
> are in fact all simply elements from within the pool of natural variation
> that is exhibited by A. longiloba.
>
> Well, this was fine and dandy for the botanists, who wanted a handle on
the
> species in the wild and defined it as a widely variable single entity, but
> was no good whatsoever for horticulturalists who could clearly
differentiate
> between the plant that grow as A. lowii and that which they grow as A.
> longiloba. The solution used was to create a series of informal 'groups'
to
> account for and give names to the most distinct elements displayed in A.
> longiloba in the broad sense.
>
> The result of all this is that the full synonymy of A. longiloba is:
>
> Alocasia longiloba Miq.
>
> Alocasia longiloba Miq.
> Caladium veitchii Lindley - Alocasia veitchii (Lindley) Schott
('veitchi') -
> Alocasia lowii var. veitchii (Lindley) Engl. - A. lowii var. picta Hook.f.
> Caladium? lowii Lem.
> Alocasia lowii Hook.
> Alocasia korthalsii Schott
> Alocasia singaporensis Linden
> Alocasia lowii var. picta Hook.f.
> Alocasia thibautiana Mast.
> Alocasia denudata Engl.
> Alocasia putzeysii ('putzeysi') N.E. Br.
> Alocasia eminens N.E. Br.
> Alocasia watsoniana Mast.
> Alocasia amabilis W. Bull
> Alocasia curtisii N.E. Br.
> Alocasia cuspidata Engl.
> Alocasia denudata var. elongata Engl.
>
>
> The informal groups are:
>
> a. 'denudata'
> - Alocasia singaporensis Linden - Alocasia denudata Engl. - Alocasia
> denudata var. elongata Engl.
>
>
> 'longiloba'
> - Alocasia longiloba Miq. s. str. - Alocasia cuspidata Engl. - ?Caladium
> veitchii Lindl. - Alocasia veitchii (Lindl.) Schott - Alocasia lowii var.
> veitchii (Lindl.) Engl. - Alocasia amabilis W. Bull.
>
>
> 'putzeysii'
> - Alocasia putzeysii N.E. Br.
>
>
> 'watsoniana'
> - Alocasia watsoniana Mast
>
>
> 'korthalsii'
> - Alocasia korthalsii Schott
>
>
> 'thibautiana'
> - Alocasia thibautiana Mast. - Alocasia curtisii N.E. Br.
>
>
> 'lowii'
> - Alocasia lowii Hook. f. - Alocasia lowii var. picta Hook.f. - Alocasia
> eminens N.E. Br.
>
>
> Hope this helps some
>
> Pete
>
>
>
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