From: alistair_hay_at_po-sydney at rbgsyd.gov.au on 1998.08.14 at 14:18:43(2535)
Whether the photo in Attenborough's book is A. robusta I am not sure
(though proper A. robusta was in the video): the characteristic
glaucous leaf underside is not visible, and the rpimary veins to not
seem to be as widely spaced as is typical for A. robusta. I suspect
the photo is of big plants of A. macrorrhizos (there is nothing to
indicate scale).
Presumably he means 10 feet long....... 10 feet across and a surface
area of 30 square feet would be a very odd shape for a leaf....
I have seen no record of A. robusta being edible, and suspect that
this statement came from confusion with macrorrhizos.
The bit (also p.47) about `on the floor of a well-established forest,
the light may be very dim indeed. Some plants deal with the problem by
growing extremely large leaves' is complete drivel in relation to the
example he cites!! The giant Alocasias habitually occupy ground under
canopy gaps, river banks, road side ditches, open marshes,
plantations, landslips etc. where there are high light levels.
Alistair Hay
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______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: gigantic leaf species around the world
Author: at mailgate
Date: 8/14/98 3:22 PM
I checked Attenborough's book of "The Private Life of Plants" to see if
there was any more information, but nothing substantive.
On page 47, "The biggest undivided leaf of all belongs to a giant edible
aroid that grows in marshy parts of the tropical rain forest in Borneo.
One of its heart-shaped leaves may be ten feet across and have a surface
area of over thiry square feet."
There is a picture on the same page, of large leaves of the general shape
and upright appearance of Alocasia macrorrhizos, with no identification.
The proportions he mentions certainly match closely those Dr. Hay cited
for A. robusta.
Steve
-- Steve Marak
-- samarak@arachne.uark.edu
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