Re: unknown Dieffenbachia species

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Thanks Dennis. A list member contacted Jake Henny about my plant, and here was Jake's reply:

I would call that plant D. maculata angustior lancifolia........(or 
> commonly D. lancifolia)....
> We used it in breeding many years ago.....the variegated spots are 
> white.........
>
> However if the stems have a BROWNISH coloration and a slight 
> YELLOWISH tint to the variegated spots
> it could be D. maculata angustior angustifolia......can't quite 
> tell from the photos.....
>
> Regards,
> Jake

Mine tends to agree with Jake's description of D. m. angustior angustifolia ( same as your ID of D. m. angustifolia) with the slight brownish stem color and slight yellowing of the spots on the leaves.  I am beginning to think that my plant may possibly have originated from Jake's/UF's projects due to the donor's involvement at UF and may not have been directly wild collected as I was told. 

Thanks to all that helped.
Adam

-----Original Message-----
From: Denis Rotolante
Sent: Nov 4, 2009 1:23 PM
To: 'Discussion of aroids'
Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] unknown Dieffenbachia species

ADAM:

 

IT APPEARS TO BE WHAT WE USED TO CALL DIEFFENBACHIA MACULATA VAR. ANGUSTIFOLIA.

GREEN STRAP LEAVES SPECKLED WITH WHITE SPOTS. IT WORKS MOST EXCELLENTLY IN THE INTERIOR SETTING ALMOST LIKE AN AGLAONEMA. BUT IT IS EXTREMELY SLOW GROWING BECAUSE THE LEAF BLADE IS SO NARROW THAT IT DOES NOT FILL THE POT UP WITH 6-8 LEAVES AND HAS TO SUCKER OUT AND FILL UP POT.

 

IT WAS USED TO MAKE HYBRIDS WITH OTHER D. MACULATA CULTIVARS BY Dr. Jake Henny at the University of Florida, but he had to double chromasomes to make a fertile back cross to F2 level.

As a result we have Dieffenbachia 'Starbright' which is being commercially produced as a tropical foliage plant for interior usage. Still a little slow, but an excellent house plant.

 

Denis

-----Original Message-----
From: aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of Adam Black
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:15 AM
To: Discussion of aroids
Subject: [Aroid-l] unknown Dieffenbachia species

While picking up some plant donations from someone I noticed an unusual Dieffenbachia sp in their collection, and they let me have a piece. All this person knew was that it was wild collected, but beyond that he didn't have any info as to where it originated from. Any help with identification would be much appreciated. Here are some photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/moropus1/DieffenbachiaSp#

Thanks

Adam Black