Aroids 2011

[Carlo]

Wow! Fantastic! Weed? No. If anyone has one (or apparently a benchful) in Canada, let me know!!!

[ThomasB]

Thomas, I've tweaked the photo a little... loses the coin but shows the plant....

Thank you Maggi! 
I was a bit in a hurry yesterday evening and the light was rather poor.


The tiny tubers I got were under 1 cm, the largest about 0.5 cm. Hope I'll get them to flower, at least the smell can't be too bad with this size. 

[Pascal B]

Another cute little aroid, the very rare little brother of Sauromatum venosum: Sauromatum brevipes from the Himalayas. Always a joy to see the inside of these little critters with the frilly anther like structures but the smell is......ehrm......like a public lavatory... Plant is in a 9 x 9 pot

[Pascal B]

The bigger brother, Sauromatum venosum. This is a form from S India, especially in leaf it is quite different with a more compact habit, broader leaflets and velvety texture compared to the N Indian/Nepalese forms in cultivation

[Pascal B]

And the third Sauromatum, S. diversifolium. Still some discussion going on about its taxonomic status, this is a high altitude form from Nepal. Pretty and smelly.

[Paul T]

Pascal,

Great pics.  Interesting to see the other Sauromatums, or are these Typhoniums again now (or back out to Sauromatum again?).  I can't keep track of it. 

The Amorph. ongsakulii is amazing.  And so tiny.  Do you know whether it is in Australia yet (or ever likely to be)?  Being a collector of assorted things, and particularly loving the miniatures, this one appeals to me greatly.  I grow a few different Amorphs, but I didn't realise there were any so small. 

Thanks for showing us your treasures.

[Pascal B]

Paul,

There have been 2 recent phylogenetic treatments of Typhonium/Sauromatum:

- Cusimano N., Barrett M., Hetterscheid W.L.A. and Renner S.S. (2010): A phylogeny of the Areae (Araceae) implies that Typhonium, Sauromatum and the Australian species of Typhonium are distinct clades. Taxon 59: 439 – 447.

- Ohi-Toma, T., S. Wu, S.R. Yadav, H. Murata & J. Murata: Molecular Phylogeny of Typhonium sensu lato and Its Allied Genera in the Tribe Areae of the Subfamily Aroideae (Araceae) Based on Sequences of Six Chloroplast Regions. Systematic Botany (2010), 35(2): pp. 244-251.

The first phylogenetic treatment concluded that Sauromatum should be resurrected and should include some species previously in Typhonium: S. brevipes, S. brevipilosum, S. diversifolium, S. gaoligongense, S. giganteum, S. hirsutum, S. horsfieldii, S. tentaculatum, S. venosum. It also concluded the Australian Typhonium are not related enough to Sauromatum or Typhonium to be included in either and will most likely all be included in the genus Lazarum.

The second article hit several unresolved "knots" in the pylogeny and split Typhonium into 5 genera: Typhonium, Sauromatum, Pedatyphonium, Hirsutiarum & Diversiarum.

Based on the lower sample density of the second publication (that did not include the Australian "Typhonium"), the unresolved phylogeny and the resulting solution it is highly unlikely the second research will find any scientific recognition. The first research has a very high sample density of most known species (DNA of the above S. brevipes I collected in Nepal was used for that research), has a completely resolved tree and a good correlation between the phylogeny and morphology. The Cusimano treatment is also followed in the new Flora of China and will be the new (and most likely definitive) classification of Typhonium and Sauromatum. At the moment I have S. horsefieldii planted out in the garden and it is completely hardy, I will probably make some pictures this week when the flower opens (although it is plain green, the pedate leaves are its main attraction).

The reason I say there is still some debate going on for T. diversifolium is because this plant is stoloniferous (in contrast to the diversifolium already in cultivation, mainly from China) and I have great difficulty with the concept of a species having 2 completely different types of leaves at the same location (which gave rise to its name), I still have the feeling the holotype sheets of S. diversifolium contain 2 separate taxa. Wilbert Hetterscheid and I are still sorting it out and DNA of the above plant will be send to Natalie Cusimano to be sampled.

As for the small Amorphophallus, I am not sure ongsakulii is in Australia. It is only in cultivation for perhaps 7 years and is slowly spreading in cultivation and was offered for the first time on E-bay this year. Most of the mini-Amorphophallus come from Laos, Cambodja and Vietnam and seem to belong to 2 sections. Another one will be published shortly but it is mainly thanks to the fieldwork of Alan Galloway that we got to know all these little ones.

[Paul T]

Pascal,

Thanks for that extensive response.  Brilliant!!    I recall now reading something about that on Aroid-L, as I remember having seen something about the Aussie ones being shifted off into their own genus.

Interesting to know that there are more small species of Amorph.  As I said, I didn't even realise there was one mini species.    If they're only 7 years discovered it will probably be a while before they make it to Australia, unless someone gets them evaluated to be added to the quarantine index.  Only then can they come into the country! <sigh>  Our quarantine can be frustrating, but it is well worth it as there are many pests and diseases we don't have here because of it.

Thanks again for the info.

[Boyed]

We collected this arum species last year during our trip to Nagorni Karabakh. At that time it was almost finishing vegetation. Few days ago when I visited the country house it was in full bloom and I was highly impressed by its beauty and vigour. It turned out a highly decorative species, reaching in height to 150 cm, not speaking about its elegant dark beautifully shaped blooms. Unfortunately, I'm not yet sure about species name.

[Ezeiza]

Zihair, it is fantastic. Is it in flower right now? If so, can you take several close ups of the open spathe base to see the actual flowers? That would help our aroid expert Pascal get closer in a diagnosis.

[Paul T]

Zhirair,

That is impressive!!  I've never heard of an Arum species to 1.5m tall before.  It really is amazing.

Thanks for showing us.  Good luck with getting an ID.

[Pascal B]

Looks like a form of Arum detrunctatum Zhirair. You can send a personal message to fellow forum member (and author of the Arum revision) Peter B to confirm.

[Paul T]

Pascal,

I've never even heard of that species before.  Cool!

[Boyed]

Unfortunately, it is not in flower now.
2 weeks ago I photographed it when it was about to bloom. later when I came back to the country house a week later, the flowers were already not in a good and fresh condition. So I even couldn't take a photo of it in a fresh bloomong condition.

In Janis boook "Buried Treasures", plate 278 I see something similar to this arum species - Arum conophalloides var. caudatum.

[Pascal B]

Paul, fellow forum member Kees Jan Zwienen has photographed detruncatum in the wild: http://keesjan.smugmug.com/Floraselectionbyfamilyfromgeog/Monocots/Araceae/15627005_2t4up#874507389_FbZGo

I on the other hand am not really familiar with conophalloides to be honest, one of the isotypes was identified by Peter Boyce as Arum rupicola and I think he still synonymises it with that species. Rupicola as I am familiar with looks different to the pix of Zhirair. But I do not know enough about Arum to be a reliable source of info, I will notify Peter about this posting, I am sure he can be more definitive than me.