Re: [aroid-l] question about tubers vs. bulbs
- Subject: Re: [aroid-l] question about tubers vs. bulbs
- From: "Michael Marcotrigiano" m*@email.smith.edu
- Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 14:46:02 -0400
In New England the flowering ones sometimes have such a short foliar
season that the resulting tuber is smaller the next year and does not
flower. Sometimes they split into multiple leaves and do not flower. I
had mine (not big enough I thought) in my onion cellar and just last
month thought a cat died in the kitchen. A trip to the basement revealed
an etiolated 10 foot stalk with a pale stinker at the end. New
discovery: Light is not necessary for the tuber to stink you out of your
house.
_______________________________
Michael Marcotrigiano, Ph.D
Director of the Botanic Garden and Professor of Biological Sciences
Smith College
Lyman Conservatory, 15 College Lane
Northampton, MA 01063
email: mmarcotr@smith.edu
voice: 413-585-2741; fax: 413-585-2744
www.smith.edu/garden
www.science.smith.edu/~mmarcotr
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Art is the unceasing effort to compete with
the beauty of flowers and never succeeding."
Marc Chagall
>>> levin@pixar.com 05/06/03 02:55AM >>>
Hi Julius & Nancy,
No doubt there will be a flurry of responses on this topic, but in
the interest of providing yet another data point: my largest tuber
of Am. konjac (approx. 10" / 25 cm diameter) blooms like clockwork
every year in April. It then takes a few months off before commencing
with its foliar phase, which here in the San Francisco Bay Area persists
until December or January before collapsing. A few months more rest,
then the cycle repeats. It's been 4 years so far, with little to no
deviation
from the above schedule.
-Dan Levin
Piedmont, CA
> << It may be several
>
> years before it re-builds enough 'strength'/size to bloom again. >>
>
> OH, my, I assumed that once it matured, it would bloom every year from
now
> on. Boo hoo. I guess I should savor the moment then, huh. It has
been in
> the 60's most of the week, so it has not been stinky yet. Thank God!
Am. konjac is to my knowledge never an overwhelming stinker.
Think "dead cat" smell or thereabouts. By comparison, poor Craig Allen
at FTG
has been subjected to the likes of "dead rhinoceros" lately. It's all
relative, Nancy!
> Does anyone know how much the tubers are worth?
