Re[2]: Alocasia sanderiana and amazonica

     The Alocasia longiloba group, to which all these and other things 
     belong, is INDEED an excellent candidate for DNA analysis both in the 
     wild and in cultivation. We have started doing extractions here.
     
     Alistair


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Alocasia sanderiana and amazonica 
Author:  <aroid-l@mobot.org> at mailgate
Date:    06/2/99 23:37


Tsuh Yang Chen wrote:
     
> I have a small plant from my local club labeled "sanderiana" but althou= 
gh it
> has the sanderiana shape, it does not have the prominent white veins, t= 
he
> veins being more muted brown.  is it possible that it is a sanderiana o= 
r is it
> mislabelled?
     
Hi Chen,
     
As the old clich=E9 goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words!"  Try to = 
get a few
photos of different aspects of your putative A. sanderana, and either hav= 
e them
scanned for posting on the IAS species identification site, or send the p= 
hotos
off to Lester Kallus, the keeper of the ID site for him to scan and post = 
for
you.  You can find the link to him from the Links button on the IAS site = 
at
http://hoya.mobot.org/ias/  Perhaps we can all give you our two bits wort= 
h then.
     
> Also, what's the parentage of amazonica?
     
There was a thread on this topic late last year:  You can find it in the = 
archives
at http://www.mallorn.com/lists/aroid-l/  According to Alocasia expert Da= 
vid
Burnett in his very informative and nicely illustrated "The Cultivated Al= 
ocasia"
of Aroideana Volume 7, Numbers 3 and 4 
(http://hoya.mobot.org/ias/Society/bk-issue.html), the parentage of Aloca= 
sia x
amazonica is historically listed as A. lowii x A. sanderana.  However, I = 
spoke
with noted aroid hybridizer John Banta today, and he gave me his observat= 
ions on
the plant:  Some years ago John had hybridized A. sanderana with A. watso= 
niana,
and got progeny that were A. x amazonica in all respects.  This seems ver= 
y
plausible to me after noting photos of the plants in question in Burnett'= 
s book.
Alocasia watsoniana has distinctively bullate leaves that seem to have ca= 
rried
over into to the putative A. x amazonica hybrid.  It is also possible acc= 
ording
to John Banta that A. sanderana has such dominant traits that it can caus= 
e
hybrids with several species, including A. lowii, to have the A. x amazon= 
ica
appearance.
     
It all sounds like an excellent candidate for DNA analysis at the molecul= 
ar
level.  Anyone know of possible grant money?  Just kidding...
     
Best regards,  Scott
     
Mr. Scott E. Hyndman
Winter Park, Florida, USA
USDA Hardiness Zone 9b
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