Re: [Aroid-l] Good bulbifer, Bad bulbifer

From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at msn.com> on 2007.07.05 at 21:07:36(15944) Reply-To : Discussion of aroids Sent : Wednesday, July 4, 2007 4:27 PM To : aroid-l Subject : [Aroid-l] Good bulbifer, Bad bulbifer Dear Don, Interesting! But here Dr. Mayo is talking about mechanically removing the spathe, which we must presume was responsible for the 'bad' smell. Whatever the other scent producing mech. must be (in Biarum), it then continues to produce a not-unpleasant smell! My friend, the late Dr. Guang hua Zhu, in his fantastic work on the Neotropical genus Dracontium, learned that if the spathe was cut off, ALL sign/hint of ANY type of scent (which usually is pretty foul!) was gone! There are stomatal-like gladular structures within the spathe of Dracontium that obviously produce the BAD small! But in A. bulbifer we are discussing a species in which some plants, with no disfigurement of the spathes, produce a FOUL small, while other plants seemingly of the SAME species produce a noticably pleasant smell! The mystry continues! Good Growing! Julius +More I?m surprised no one found this quote from Deni Bown?s Aroids, Chapter 2, page 54: Sometimes even the same inflorescence presents contrasting scents. One botanist discovered that, after cutting away the enveloping lower spath of a Biarum inflorescence, ?the admittedly pungent aroma of the black terminal appendix turns unexpectedly into a sweet, gentle fragrance when the bolder nose investigates the more basal regions of the spadix? (Mayo 1980). Don Martinson Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mailto:llmen@wi.rr.com<< _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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