Re: [aroid-l] Question--Colocasia "Black magic"

From: Tony Avent <tony at plantdelights.com> on 2004.04.06 at 16:13:22(11370) Julius: It is amazing when you grow enough plants to watch for mutations. Some genera are very unstable and other seemingly never mutate. I expect that many genera simply have faulty cell division processes...sort of like buying a computer with a bad hard drive...sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't. A classic example is hosta, where there are a small number of green species. We now have over 4,000 named cultivars. Only a tiny fraction are seedlings and the rest are due to mutations. There are now groups of plant nerds that go on sport-fishing expeditions to nurseries and they aren't looking for fish. +More At 09:59 AM 4/6/2004 +0000, you wrote: > > > >>From: Tony Avent >>Reply-To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu >>To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu >>Subject: Re: [aroid-l] Question--Colocasia "Black magic" >>Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 18:27:10 -0400 >> >Dear Friends, > >Great observation, Tony!! Tissue culture is known to produce rapid >mutation in Aroids, several of the commercially available 'new' Alocasias >have also been developed this way! >Though I have written on this topic many times, I am not sure that many of >us 'get it' concerning how relatively quickly some/most aroids evolve/mutate >vegetatively. In Colocasia and Xanthosoma, being perhaps the most >commonly and widely grown (as food), we can see the record on these most >easily. To come to the 'hard wall of realization' quickly, take a look >at Colocasia----It was introduced to Hawaii just a few thousand years ago by >canoes, probably just a very few cultivars, yet by the time anyone (modern >man) 'took notice', the Hawaiiana had developed over two hundren cultivars >(yes, over 200!!) just by selecting off-shoots of one that may have been >'different' or superior to the 'mother' plant, no sexual reproduction >involving pollination was involved!! Almost the same can be said for >Xanthosoma. I have also recorded a very suspicious rapid vegetative >evoloution' in the giant aroid Montrichardia on Trinidad which I am still >looking at! >To see this actually happening, buy a plant of the Xanthiosoma sp. (with the >little frills below the leaf blade) and just see how the off-shoots can >change from the 'original' mother-plant! > >Good Growing, >Julius > >>>Jason: >> >> Regarding your Colocasia 'Black Magic' question, I can share a bit of >>background. This clone clumps in most climates, but when grown as an >>aquatic, it does produce runners. In very wet season, we have seen the >>occasional runner. In tissue culture, C. 'Black Magic' mutated to a form >>that runs in all climates. It was given the name C. 'Black Runner'. This >>form also has leaves that emerge darker and have more ruffling around the >>edges. I hope this helps. >> >>At 01:15 AM 4/2/2004 -0500, you wrote: >> >"Dean Ouer" wrote: >> > >> >>Can any of you aroid experts answer the following question about the >>"Black Magic" colocasia? >> >>I grow it in So California and also in Hawaii. The leafs look identical >>to me in both locations so I always assumed they are the same species. >>However, when grown in California it "suckers" only right next to the base >>of the mother plant. The suckers are so close it is even hard to split off >>the "pups." In Hawaii it sends out long runners (3-5 feet long) with a >>plantlet on the end like I have seen other Colocasias do. But the "Black >>Magic" I grow in California has never sent out a runner. And the one I grow >>in Hawaii only seldom suckers close by. >> >>Are there two different species of "Black Magic" or is this difference >>in >>growth due only to climate? >> > >> >The differences you describe, sound like subspecies/varietal differences! >>Colocasia esculenta has 3 subspecies/varieties: C. e. esculenta, the >>nominate form; C. e. antiquorum; and C. e. aquatilis. Could it be that the >>'Black Magic' leaf has appeared in two different subspecies/varieties? >> > >> >Jason Hernandez >> >Naturalist-at-Large >> > >>Tony Avent >>Plant Delights Nursery @ >>Juniper Level Botanic Garden >>9241 Sauls Road >>Raleigh, NC 27603 USA >>Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F >>Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F >>USDA Hardiness Zone 7b >>email tony@plantdelights.com >>website http://www.plantdel.com >>phone 919 772-4794 >>fax 919 772-4752 >>"I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least >>three times" - Avent > >_________________________________________________________________ >Watch LIVE baseball games on your computer with MLB.TV, included with MSN >Premium! >http://join.msn.com/?pageþatures/mlb&pgmarket=en-us/go/onm00200439ave/dir ect/01/ > Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, NC 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdel.com phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent

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