Re: Dracontium pittieri pictures

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 2000.09.14 at 14:19:30(5431) Dear David (and Jay!), Something smells 'rotten' here, and it`s NOT the Dracontium! This is not D. pittierii, but I am 99.999% certain it is in fact the other giant species from Cen. America, D. gigas!! D. pittierri has a peduncle of over 2 mts (6-7 ft!!) and the 'white' area within the spathe extends upwards higher than the height of the spadix, whereas D. gigas has a peduncle of 'only' +- 1 mt, or 2-3 ft., and the white area is shorter than the spadix. By the way, this 'white', translucent area is thought to attract flies and other insects into the spathe, it is thought that they see the light through it and fly into the spathe and downwards towards it, and in so doing assist in pollenation. Yes, Jay, the color and texture of the spathe`s interior is certainly a thing of rare beauty, and I believe this would be par for the course with this species! For other Dracontium 'lovers' out there, THE most beautiful species is D. croatii from Western Ecuador! And GOOD news, Jay--you are ideally situated to be able to have BOTH these species in your collection SOON, as both are native to Costa Rica! No matter which species it is, thanks a lot to David for sharing this wonder of nature with all of us! Hope to meet and see some of you in Miami in two weeks time! Cheers, Julius +More ju-bo@msn.com >Dear aroid enthusiasts, I have just found some nice pictures of Dracontium pittieri from the Botany Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison that deserve to be seen: http://www.wisc.edu/botit/tour/Roomeight-Dr.html David -- David Scherberich Email: earmag@cybercable.tm.fr http://www.cybercable.tm.fr/~earmag/

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