Re: [Aroid-l] Konjac bloom question

**D* E* <d*@u.washington.edu>**

Chuck, much of what is known about this process was started by work done

by the late Baastian Meeuse who did his research primarily on Sauromatum

guttatum here at the Univ. of Washington. Hanna Skubatch worked with

him near the end of his life, and

continued on with investigating this process.

You will find publications that deal with the unusual respiratory pathway

that the mitochondria that are concentrated in the spadix utilize to

produce heat.

Meeuse was born in the early 1900s in Bogor, Indonesia ( Dutch colony at

that time). His family returned to the Netherlands for his high school and

university training. He joined the faculty of the Dept. of Botany here in

the early 1950's. Throughout his life, he remained a passionate

student ( and teacher) of all aspects of biology, but he had a particular

fondness for pollination systems, biochemistry, and aroids.

I remember him with fondness,       Doug

_________________/\/\/\______________________

Doug Ewing, Greenhouse Manager (206) 543-0436
Department of Biology
University of Washington
Box 351800
24 Kincaid Hall ( for UPS and FEDEX)
Seattle, WA   98195-1800

On Sun, 6 May 2007, Peter Matthews wrote:

Dear Chuck,

I think one of the main authors on the biochemistry of aroid flowering
(generation of heat and aromatic compounds by the spadix) is Meuse
(spelling?).

My own specimen of konjac has just flowered here in Kyoto (now beginning
to decay, 5th May), after an unusually warm winter.

Peter

On 5/2/2007, "Charles Gramling" <chazmg1@citlink.net> wrote:

I have just experienced my first bloom. While reading about the amazing
growth is one thing, seeing it is something else. I have not seen any
discussion of what occurs that allows that amazing conversion of stored
energy in to the flower. I almost thought that the tuber itself should be
warm with the effort. Is there anything available on this process and what
compounds are released during the bloom?

Chuck Gramling

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