strange new growth on Amorphophallus titanum

Subject: strange new growth on Amorphophallus titanum
From: N* G* <n*@hmns.org>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2015 22:22:21 +0000

Hello fellow aroid lovers. Please see the attached photograph. Have any of you seen this happen before? This is “Lois” – our Amorphophallus titanum that bloomed a few summers ago – but has since had some setbacks (part of the corm rotted so it is still smaller than when it produced an inflorescence). It has become quite irregular in when it sends up a new leaf – it certainly is not on an annual cycle – and this time, when the leaf died back recently, the top part yellowed and fell off and we found a new sprout already growing up inside the petiole of the old leaf! (see photo) Usually the leaf dies back completely, and the corm has a dormant period of a few months.

What would make this happen? Too much water at the wrong time? Something else? What should we do? Any advice would be appreciated! We would love to have our plant bloom again, but at this rate…I’m not optimistic!

Thank you for any feedback,

Nancy Greig

Director, Cockrell Butterfly Center

Houston Museum of Natural Science

5555 Hermann Park Drive

Houston, TX 77030-1799

Tel 713-639-4742

www.hmns.org

From: Soni Holladay
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 4:53 PM
To: Nancy Greig <ngreig@hmns.org>
Subject: Re: Lois

Here you go!

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone

------ Original message------

From: Nancy Greig

Date: Mon, Oct 5, 2015 4:44 PM

To: Soni Holladay;

Subject:Lois

Hi Soni – can you please email me that photo you took of Lois’s new sprout inside the old petiole? I want to send it to the Aroid Society listserve to see what people say about it.

Also, if you notice some ribbon hanging in the center it is a test to see if it will stay curled. Don’t water it please!

Thanks!