Re: [Aroid-l] Cyrtosperma merkusii--the story

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2006.10.01 at 18:18:49(14724) Reply-To : Discussion of aroids Sent : Saturday, September 30, 2006 11:40 PM To : Discussion of aroids Subject : Re: [Aroid-l] Cyrtosperma merkusii--the story Dear ALl, As some of you have 'heard' me say here on aroid-l, aroids are VERY 'plastic' plants, and can and do evolve VERY quickly vegetatively, as we have seen that even an offshoot from a 'mother' plant can grow to look and TASTE differently to the 'mother'. The best way to illustrate this is to consider Colocasia esculenta (taro) in Hawaii, in just a couple thousand years man has managed to develope several HUNDRED 'cultivars'/clones just by his selection, NOT by breeding or seed/sexual reproduction, and these hundreds come from just a very few original clones/varieties that were brought to the Islands by the first human arrivals. Presumably the same thing occurs with Cyrtosperma. As I said in my note, there are many known cultivars of this one 'species', C. merkusii, so we can expect to see slight differences in them through their range, and this is NOT taking into account the growing conditions, as the plants at Fairchild and in Munich probably originate from exactly the same collection/clone, and both are growing indoors in shade and stillness, while the Hawaiian plant is growing outside in sun and the wind. Good Growing, Julius +More Hello Brian, Julius, and everybody else who shared their info and insight on this beautiful plant. The C. merkusii that Brian sent a link of from Hawaii doesnt look "exactly" like the one that is growing at Fairchild. It may very well be the same plant, since I am no expert. But it appears that the leaf on the one that Brian sent a link to has a softer leaf almost like a Xanthosoma Sagitifollia when compared to an Alocasia Odora leaf. Here is a link to the plant that looks identical to the one growing at Fairchild: http://dscherberich.free.fr/MUNICH/cyrtomerkusiim.html Again they very well may be the same plant, or a variation of the same plant. Thanks Eric<< --- Brian Williams wrote: Here is a link of what maybe Merkusii but it is listed as chamissonls I am not sure if this is another large species in the group in most cases I have seen it usually is Merkusii. I did have a great link to island page with a young woman in front of a huge patch of Merkusii that were around 20 feet tall. Huge plants with massive leaves. It seems this site is no longer up. This was the closest I have seen to it. http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/images/cyr_cha_hab.jpg > _______________________________________________ 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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