Re: Stromanthe sanguinea "Tricolor"

That really is stunning Jim.  Amazing what they can do with common names.  Glad you found the new botanical one.

Kitty
-------------- Original message -------------- 

> I had one of those fun mornings. We've got a cold front blowing 
> through, so I spent much of the AM right here trying to ID a plant. 
> It's a plant that someone convinced our retail folks that it's a 
> ginger--Peppermint Ginger, they call it. The nursery people put some in 
> a big pot in the landscape office atrium. I suppose to acquaint the 
> landscape sales-design staff with it. Fortunately, or not, I recognized 
> the plant. 
> 
> My first wife's father was a house plant grower in Southern California 
> and for the 2 years preceding his death, I was his salesman. This was 
> one of the plants he grew; the 1902 edition of Bailey's "Cyclopedia of 
> Horticulture" [our only reference] called it Maranta tricolor.There are 
> significant differences between the Marantaecae and Zingberaceae 
> families. 
> 
> It's no longer Maranta tricolor--and, I guess, hasn't been for a long 
> time; at least I didn't find any listings for that name. But I sure 
> took the grand tour of the Calathea and Maranta genuses looking for, 
> first, photos and, second, plant societies. I found no photos that 
> resembled the plant and no plant societies. Finally it dawned on me 
> [duh] to go to Dave's Garden's data base and search on "Marantaecae" 
> because that data base includes family names and many, if not most, 
> entries have pictures. 
> 
> Well, it did, and the match was simple. Like, Eureka! It's new moniker 
> is "Stromanthe sanguinea 'Tricolor'." So I added my picture to the data 
> base. If you'd like to see it, it can be accessed at 
> 
> http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/61454/ 
> 
> The cultural requirements for the plant are scary--no sun, no temps 
> below 60, lots of humidity. A ginger it's not. But stunning under the 
> right conditions, it is. 
> 
> I don't know if there's a picture of it in A2Z [mine's at work], but if 
> it is it will be interesting to see what it has to say about it; 
> there's also a plain-jane green one with darker green markings. 
> 
> Island Jim 
> Southwest Florida 
> 27.0 N, 82.4 W 
> Zone 10a 
> Minimum 30 F [-1 C] 
> 
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