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  [Aroid-l] My Story: How I Became a Meconostigma Nut
From: lbmkjm at yahoo.com (brian lee) on 2008.07.08 at 18:51:28(18114)
Dear Airlan,

Aloha.

A marvelous personal journey of discovery...exploring the roots of obsession.

I have Mark W. Moffett's, High Frontier, and your tale reminded me of the vegetative snakes of the canopy...the hemiepiphytes. This book is a great introduction to rainforests and canopy exploration. It took me back to Brazil and the giant lianas in the primary forests I visited. One of the so-called monkey ladders was enormous at its base...about three feet across and flattened to a thick plank that would be walked on with ease for quite a distance. Closer to home, I had to slay dragons in the form of Philodendron mello-barretoanum that grew into great serpentine pythons. They overtook large sections of my garden and I regretted having to slice and dice them with my chainsaw into massive piles of compostable carnage. I have several clumps remaining...but I needed to keep my vegetative dragons in check. This Meconostigma is one of my favorites, but it has intravaginal stipules that are persistent, large, and razor sharp. These dragons have teeth!

I suspect there are other obsessed souls out there interested in reading tales of exploration in the forests. May I recommend, One River,by Dr. Wade Davis...it tells several epic tales and both of the protagonists,are legends of the rainforests....Dr. Richard Evans Schultes and Dr. Timothy Plowman...of Philodendron plowmanii and Anthurium plowmanii, etc.

Aloha,

Leland

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