Re: Amorphophallus titanum flowering at Selby Gardens

From: SelbyHort at aol.com on 1999.06.03 at 16:19:16(3413) Dear Julius, Yes, we are concerned that the smaller inflor. won't be up to the task of fruiting. Too bad the big, vigorous one did not open second instead. The second inflor. was not even very fragrant. It did have an interesting coloration, don't know if you saw the web photos....but it did not turn red all the way to the edge of the spathe....had a green "picotee" around the spathe edge. Also the color was more "orangy" than maroon. We'll see.. Can anyone tell me exactly what signs we should be seeing if we have successful pollination? +More I think we should have taken some tissue samples to see under the microscope. The spathe tissue was most interesting...really big cells! Also the spadix interior was full of thin white spider-webby fibers. I am afraid that by now most of the tissues have deteriorated beyond the point of any use. The big inflor. (the first one) is really holding up pretty well....the base of the spadix (with female and male flowers) is still quite firm and does not seem to be disintegrating. I will see about getting some sections made of this tomorrow and have some microphotography done. More later, Donna In a message dated 99-05-31 11:38:48 EDT, you write: << Dear Donna, Thanks for keeping 'us' up to date on your twin 'babies', and enjoy the well-deserved rest! I`d like to suggest that you keep your eyes on the second and smaller (also perhaps significantly, much less 'stinky') inflorsence. It may just yet give another clue to something I`ve been seeing in some Aroids (Anaphyllopsis americana, for example), and which has been 'proven' in the genus Arisaema, which is the ability for a smaller ('weaker'?) plant to contribute to the gene pool by it`s pollen yet not it`s seed, as it is/may be unable to provide enough resources to support the development of seed during the long time it takes for an infructesence to develop. Even if the pollenation on the second and smaller inflor. does not 'take', maybe a portion of the female zone should be preserved in spirit so that the structure of the female flowers would be available at a later date for dissection and analysis? This may all be a moot point, as hopefully you will see signs of an infructesence developing soon! Please keep us informed, and again congrats! Sincerely, Julius >>

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.