Re: [Aroid-l] Australians

From: "Betsy Feuerstein" <ecuador10 at comcast.net> on 2014.09.02 at 16:43:38(23095) Another person to remember is Scott Hyndman. Scott was very active in IAS for many years. He now lives elsewhere but he does deserve due credit in his IAS efforts. In the big picture of the past, there are so many who really did a great deal for IAS, some as growers, some as collectors, some as organizational contributors. I am sure there are more that have not been mentioned. I know there are some active in the Miami area/South Florida at this time who should be mentioned. Maybe Marie can fill us in on those individuals. I know I have heard hosts of the Christmas Party, the show banquet or other projects. Certainly Tom Moore has done a great deal helping at the shows. He is always there behind the desk. I know there are others. Please someone in the know make sure these individuals are given their due credit. Betsy HTML +More From: aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of DAVID LEEDY Sent: Monday, September 01, 2014 2:59 PM To: Discussion of aroids Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Australians What a great addition to this discussion, John. I know there are a lot more Ozzie plantsmen than have been brought up here. I am familiar with the name Arden Dearden, either from my friend David Burnett of Sydney or Bill Huddy of Cairns. I should like to add, although I could be mistaken, that David Burnett rediscovered some Alocasia in Borneo, which had been lost to horticulture. I believe they were A. 'Green Shield' and A. rugosum. Also, Bill Huddy shared some Typhonium brownii with me and when I sent some of the tubers to Wilbert Hetterscheid, he was fascinated. I don't know where Bill got them or why Wilbert was fascinated. I am also familiar with a woman botanist or collector from Australia, but her name and accomplishments have escaped me for now. David Leedy On Monday, September 1, 2014 2:23 PM, John Criswick wrote: I have received a letter from Australian plantsman Michael Ferrero, in response to some correspondence from Aroid-L which I had forwarded to him. Evidently he would like me to send it in as a contribution to the ongoing discussion of aroid plantsmen. So here it is. John Criswick. I would like to contribute some important information that in/from Australia we had one of the foremost hybridisers of Philodendrons ever known at the time, ie from late 1960's to late 1970's. His name was Leonard P. Butt (or Len as he preferred to be called) and he lived in the suburb of Indooroopilly i.e inner Brisbane, SE Queensland. Now I was never an aroid collector, much less an enthusiast- but I do remember seeing and growing a few of Len Butt's Philodendron hybrids, housed at/in Cairns, at the Flecker Botanic Gardens, and one such is called Butt's Imperial (Philo melo-barotteanum var. selloum x P. longifolium) and another was a cross he made with Philodendron x corsinianum and another again which (I think) was called Butt's Giant Imperial which must have been a cross between P. giganteum and P. imperial-perhaps? In Cairns there were relatively few Aroid enthusiasts- but some of these Butt Philodendron hybrids became available in the hands of local collectors and were gradually featured in local landscapes, a good example is the roundabout and main avenue leading into the Sheraton Mirage Resort in Port Douglas (where I was born and grew up) which featured heavily planted rows and walls of Len Butt's Philo hybrids- so our local (Cairns) nurseries took them on, and made them mainstream, and so at least 3 of his hybrids were propagated in a few of our main nurseries in Cairns. One such is Equatorial Exotics, still operating and the owner is my good mate Dr Arden Dearden, so he can be contacted on arden@equatorialexotics.com to contribute some photos and information about them, and I do believe that my own old mate, Don Ellison was pretty close to Len Butt- in the day, so he too would probably have some great (old) photos and cultivar names and descriptions of some of Len Butt's most important Philo hybrids too! Don's e-mail address is dellison@bigpond.com.au Also the Curator of Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens in Brisbane- Ross McKinnon- whom was mentored by Harold Caufield- the original founding director of Mt Coot-tha botanic gardens, so possibly Ross would have access to information or accurate records of the parentage of many of Len Butt's Philodendron hybrids because Harold Caufield (Ross' mentor and predecessor) was a very great friend of Len Butt's. Many of these original Butt Philo hybrids are still to be found growing there in Mount Coot-tha botanic Gardens, although Ross recently retired, as of 30th of July, he can still be contacted on his e-mail address Ross.McKinnon@brisbane.qld.gov.au. Many of Len Butt's Philodendron hybrids stayed down south, i.e not many of them "migrated" up to Cairns- where I'm from- so mostly it would be nurserymen, collectors and Aroid enthusiasts living in in South East Queensland that would have info on Len Butt's Philo hybrids or have them in their gardens still to this day!. I hope this may help out the Aroideana people get something in writing about what we great Aussies have achieved too! _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l ------=_NextPart_000_017B_01CFC6A3.23034720-- --==============11014615420425427==

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