Aroids (the family Araceae)

[TheOnionMan]

2nd batch of Arisaema amurense x tashiroi

[Afloden]

 Here is a form of A. triphyllum that always flowers before the leaves.... In Japan this would be a new species!

[TheOnionMan]

Here is a form of A. triphyllum that always flowers before the leaves.... In Japan this would be a new species!

Cool!  Where did you originaly find it?  I've never seen one that flowers before the leaves.  Is it in flower now, or a photo from a previous year?

I've been fascinated with Arisaema triphyllum for most of my life, starting when I was 10 years old and my parent's property had wild brush areas full of A. triphyllum, Trillium cernuum, and poison ivy.  I would lift each and every hooded spathe to see what color they were, running the gamut from all pale green to near black, various striping, and everything in between.  The species is amazingly diverse, and wherever I come across it, the recognition of A. triphyllum is immediate, yet it seems there is always some unique and varying characteristics that set that individual apart.  What I like about this one too, is that it flowers late, usually late May or early June.

Just took a quick look through my digital image library, and here's a sampling of varying forms of Arisaema triphyllum.  I'm sure you're well familiar with such variation, but those viewers less familiar with this species might enjoy seeing the variation.

 1 - veined leaves and light pie-crust-crimped edge, large leaves

 2 - dark black-purple spathe and spadix

 3 - top half dark spathe, lower portion white, light green spadix

 4 - dark spathe, visibly striped on the *outside* of the flower

 5 - dark spathe, glaucous purple stems and leaf petioles

 6 - attractive form found in nearby woods, low growing, very wide striped flower
 7 - another view of the same local form, notice the dark stippling at the base of the flower.

 8 - white-veined leaf form, emerging
 9 - view from above showing the beautiful leaves
10 - flower is light green and white striped

[Maggi Young]

I'm sure that many folks really appreciate, as I do, the chance to see the level of variation that exists in these plants. A huge source of interest.... and, in some species and genera; frustration, as the ID becomes trickier!

[ArnoldT]

A ten inch shoot.

Not sure of the ID

[TheOnionMan]

A ten inch shoot.

Not sure of the ID

Arnold, be sure to show more photos of this as the "story unfolds" in the coming days and weeks.

[johnw]

Fantastic triphyllums there Mark.  We don't see much variation in the native ones here, mainly green and white.

86F?  That is outrageous.

johnw

[Afloden]

Mark,

 Yes, in flower now. It is also the earliest of all my clones. I too have the ex Mrs Frenchs form, a white veined form of my own that I found in west Tennessee about 9 years ago, a purple veined leaf form, all manners of spathe color selections, some with purple spotted leaves (var. pusillum), and others selected for the overall size of the plant. Pictures to come as the season progresses.

 We hit 89 here, but now it feels like spring again. All the Daff's are gone, but roses and Peonia are in bud.

 Aaron

[ArnoldT]

Mark:

Here's an update.

Arnold

[Pascal B]

Arnold, the long spathe tip, dark, rather fat appendix tip and colour of the cataphyll suggests something like Arisaema ehimense, ever bought that species? From Asiatica perhaps?

[ArnoldT]

Pascal:

Never purchased from Asiatica but have had bulb lust looking over their web site.

Arnold

[TheOnionMan]

Pascal:

Never purchased from Asiatica but have had bulb lust looking over their web site.

Arnold

Fascinating, what an unusual spadix.  Arnold, please show up again at rather anthesis.

Pascal, any thoughts about the A. amurense x tashiroi cross?

[Pascal B]

Pascal, any thoughts about the A. amurense x tashiroi cross?

Nope, not really. Open pollinated hybrids in cultivation are sometimes less obvious to retrace than natural hybrids. During my fieldtrips I have encountered 3 natural hybrids that each time occurred in mixed populations of just 2 species but in cultivation it is often harder because more species/forms grow side by side. Hence my initial question whether it was a documented hybrid or a chance seed seedling, I was hoping it was the first.

It just surprises me that if one of the parents is that darker robust form of amurense from your picture why the resulting hybrid lacks any pigment and is all green. Usually the hybrids show more obvious intermediate characters, certainly the ones that seem very unlikely like the intersectional one Tony Avent of Plant Delight made by crossing franchetianum/fargesii x heterophyllum. Crosses within sections are the most likely ones to occur yet at the same time are the hardest to place. It could be that the parentage is like you say it is but only if you make the same cross with the suspected male and female intentionally you can be sure. The way the leaves emerge from the shoot leans more towards the way amurense appears from its shoot so that would be in favour of thinking amurense is indeed a parent but I would say your all green amurense would then be the more likely parent. Tashiroi itself is a robust species and hybrids generally tend to be vigorous anyway so the vigour can only come from 1 parent.

[TheOnionMan]

Pascal, any thoughts about the A. amurense x tashiroi cross?

The way the leaves emerge from the shoot leans more towards the way amurense appears from its shoot so that would be in favour of thinking amurense is indeed a parent but I would say your all green amurense would then be the more likely parent. Tashiroi itself is a robust species and hybrids generally tend to be vigorous anyway so the vigour can only come from 1 parent.

A mere 2 meters away I grow a patch of regular green and white flowered A. amurense.  Of the robust A. amurense (possibly itself a hybrid), it grows in slightly varying forms, some have brown shaded blooms, others have green and white flowers.  Thanks for your thoughts on this.

[Pascal B]

That's why I am not really enthusiastic about Arisaema hybrids, they mess up taxonomy if undocumented. If I am asked to ID a plant from a picture and I can't immediately place it, I always first ask what the origin is, what more species the owners grow and if it was grown from a seedex. Particularly the various forms of consanguineum and ciliatum seem to cross in cultivation. Some members of the Arisaema Enthusiast Group are over-enthusiastically swapping pollen among their plants but if some of the crosses succeed, the resulting offspring is rarely more interesting than the parents in my opinion. That is, if the cross is documented and the parents are known.....

Recently a picture of a cross made by Roy Herold with sikokianum, takadae and limbatum as DNA-donors was posted by one of the AEG members. This is one of the first crosses I have seen that does make some sense because it combines the strong characters of the individual parents. Oddly enough the cross was made to produce a sikokianum lookalike that was longer lived than sikokianum. Many growers seem to struggle to keep sikokianum alive and it disappears after a couple of seasons with them. I grow it in pots and have some plants for well over 12 years so don't seem to have that problem but at least this hybrid is documented and makes some sense:

http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/temperate/?gal=Arisaema&id=2484