Re: Amorpho titanum crosses!!!

From: "Ron Iles" roniles at eircom.net> on 2001.06.22 at 03:19:08(6822) Geoff & other Friends! Night starvation, so intermittent contributions to Aroid L have been b/w! Sorry! Man vs. Nature. Hybrids vs. Species. This is a MAJOR issue and needs mighty informed dialogue even to begin. As you say the Orchid people have got it right with obligatory & inalienable hybrid registration which be the same for all aroids. They are helped by all species coming under CITES jurisdiction. Therefore the species are "desirable", therefore merit salvation by profitable propagation "controls". Its just ought to be Man for Nature, not Nature for Man. But carry on regardless looking both ways with ostrich head in sand hoping everything will be alright and this conversation will be as academic as the wild species are in ten years or less. But we'll still have our far more desirable misbegotten hybrids with meaningless fancy names then won't we? Neros fiddling whilst everything burns again? All I can say is that this "anthropocentric" approach just ain't right for Earth Custodians in the 21st Century. If you don't mind I'll take a little time out from mind dancing, to fill heart, sharpen claws and load blunderbuss. If you got News(1), any significant News(2) contributions chaps & chappesses? Ron +More | I agree with most of the comments on hybrids given here, the majority do not | improve on nature, although I suspect most of us are only too happy to grow | various hybrid garden plants without giving it a second thought. It is a | fairly natural thing for man to pick the biggest, the darkest, the largest, | the best scented flowers etc etc and its only a short step from there to | selectively crossing. I think the orchid people have it right, at least they | register everything and one can look up parentage very easily. All these | cultivar names which mean nothing (what IS Anthurium Jungle King?!, or | Spathiphyllum Sensation?!) because they wont tell you or dont know the | parentage are not helping anyone. Yes, we absolutely must conserve and | disseminate species as much as possible to ensure their survival in | collections (is it too pessimistic to feel that their habitats just will not | survive?) and for future generations to admire their stunning beauty. I am | not against hybrids per se as long as the species are cared for, and the | hybrids well documented. A giant konjac-titanum in the backyard may be | unlikely but it would certainly get noticed..... | | Just wait till they use gene surgery to join a Spathiphyllum with | Amorphophallus, Spathiphyllum "Dracula's Delight" anyone...? | | Geoffrey Kibby | London |

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