Re: [Aroid-l] Philodendron stenolobum

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2005.07.02 at 11:02:26(13095) Reply-To : Discussion of aroids Sent : Friday, July 1, 2005 9:21 PM To : Discussion of aroids Subject : Re: [Aroid-l] Philodendron stenolobum Dear Friends, Eduardo has informed us of exactly what the case is w/ these two very different and 'good' species (see his letter of 30th, 8.18 pm, addressed to 'Tom" (Dr. Croat), but allow me one more explanation on what might have and may still be causing some confusion. [By the way, the leaf ratios asked for on these two species are---"Anterior division (ratio length/width) P. williamsii--1 - 1.5. P. stenolobum 2.1 - 3.3. (these are copied from Dr. Gonclaves' paper) Other critical differences that separate these two species documented by Dr. Goncalves in his paper are--The gynoceum (immature fruit) in P. stenolobum is flask-shaped, while that of P. williamsii is barrel shaped. The ovary of P. stenolobum has 11-12 locules (chambers) while that of P. williamsii has only 7-8.] Before Dr. Goncalves published his paper, when word got out that the plant that we all had been refering to as P. williamsii was going to be described as a new/good species, several collectors/growers then assumed that only the plants with the ruffled leaf edges were this new species ( P. stenolobum), and the plants with the not-so-long anterior lobes and flat leaf blades must still be P. williamsii--- we were wrong! The TRUE P. williamsii is a completely different species, seemingly not in cultivation, rare in herbarium collections, and very different looking to either one of the vars. of the now-new P. stenolobum, and grows FAR away from all the different populations of the new P. stenolobum. (see Eduardo`s recent letter on this). So--the plants that have a very long leaf, both the ruffled and the unruffled, ALL are TRUE P. stenolobum. Man ALWAYS gravitates to collecting from wild populations what he views as the most attractive or even odd members of a broard variety of either plants or animals, it happens all the time with collectors, but true scientists collect 'down the middle', a representitive sample that illustrates the extremes of a species. This obviously pertains to the plants under discussion, all seen are P. stenolobum. Julius +More WPB, Florida Could you give numbers for the ratios? I'm curious, and glad this conversation came up.<< --- Russ wrote: The leaves on my 'stenolobum' are nowhere near as ruffled as the one in last year's Aroid show, or the 2 pictures I found of P. 'williamsii' in my Exotica. But they seem to be the same in narrow lobe width and proportions. So, these are obviously both stenolobum with a variation in the leaf edge. BUT, these are not the two opposing plants I have in mind as questionable. The 'old williamsii' that I'm referencing has much shorter, and wider lobes, and leaves are not as thick or stiff. They truly do not look like the same species. Russ> _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l ____________________________________________________ Yahoo! Sports Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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