Re: Dracontium ID


----- Original Message -----
From: Albert Huntington <balberth@yahoo.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L <aroid-l@mobot.org>
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: Dracontium ID


Dear Albert,

Now that I am over my virus cleansing, I have had a moment to have a CLOSE
look at your photos, and I do believe that your plant is a Pycnospatha.
The leaves (especially the small one to the left!) and the petioles shown in
the photo #1 are Pycnospatha, certainly NOT Dracontium, as is the spadix
shown in Photo # 2 which lacks the scale-like structures that surround each
individual flower on the spadix as one would see in Dracontium.   It is a
wonderful and rare plant, so enjoy!

Sincerely,

Julius

.  >>Hello Folks,

  I would like to thank everyone who answered my question concerning the
identification of my plant, formerly labeled D. gigas.

  It would appear that I have been given 3 diagnoses:  D. prancei ( the
current
favorite ), D. polyphyllum, and Pycnospatha arietina.

  Looking at the pictures that our esteemed friend G. Zhu has on the
aroid.org
webpage, there is certainly a resemblance to D. prancei more than D.
polyphyllum, but I would like to revisit Denis' diagnosis of a possible
match
with P. arietina.  In particular, the reason for my concern is that the
shape
of the spathe of my plant doesn't quite seem to match either of the
suggested
Dracontiums.  The tip of the spathe is definitely curved over until it
points
almost towards the ground, which is not the case with the suggested
dracontium
pictures.

  I have been unable to find a lot of references to Pycnospatha, but looking
at
the drawings and description in _Genera_of_Araceae_, it looks like it might
be
a good match.

  Does anyone know of a simple diagnostic difference between Dracontium and
Pycnospatha other than locality?

Thanks,
--Albert



=====
Albert Huntington           San Jose, CA U.S.A.
           Visit my greenhouse at:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/1436
-----------------------------------------------

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