From: Timothy Chapman <chapman at premier.net> on 1997.01.03 at 19:03:47(47)
Maybe this thread should be "The Dark Side of the Nursery business" The
picture shown in the Park's catalog is of a bloom of A. konjac (they
used to sell it as rivierii I think). The plant shown doesn't look like
A. bulbifer either. Many catalogs buy slides from people (different
from the plant source). so what you see is often not what you get.
Several things could have happened. They actually are selling A.
bulbifer, but just used the slides of konjac instead. Or they are
selling konjac but mislabeled as bulbifer or .. who knows what they
have.
Someone else mentioned gingers (my specialty). While many of these
(from Wayside) are coming from a legitimate grower in gainseville,
several of the ones listed in the supplemental catalog are not
propagated. Many new gingers are being wild collected (by the
thousands) from Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia and sold through various
nurseries (some never seeing any US soil or even pots!). I'm not sure
if Wayside realizes this or not, but I can be certain that some of these
are not being propagated at all. Some of these are being tissue
cultured now, but unfortunately the wild plants are cheaper than TC
plugs, not to mention the TCed ones aren't widely available yet.
The most common wild collected ones are :Curcuma gracillima ("Candy
Cane" "Burnt Burgandy", Curcuma thorelii "Chiang Mai Snow", Curcuma
cordata, Globba winitii "White Dragon" and many more species on the
way. Most C. alismatifolia ARE NOT wild collected, the most common form
has been clonally propagated for many years, as are two new color forms
(white and maroon)
If you are interested in these, you should wait until this material is
propagated. Some are already producing very select clones, that are
either TCed or propagated by divisions. keep in mind that the wild
material is very variable. some good, some terrible, many diseased.
Tim Chapman
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