Contractile roots

[Tony Avent]

Donna:

Most of the arisaemas that we very deep were at the bottom of eroded
banks, where it was very evident that they had been silted around.  The bank
on which the A. franchetianum was found was heavily vegetated, and did not
appear to have eroded.

At 03:06 PM 9/4/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Tony Avent wrote:
>
>> While many that we found were quite deep, it appeared that this was due to
>> sedimentation, and not to the arisaema pulling itself deeper.  In fact the
>> A. franchetianum that we found on a dry dusty bank were literally almost on
>> top of the ground.
>
>I doubt that 'sedimentation' could account for the bulbs/corms moving
>deeper.  More likely, bulbs/corms would be subject to the same forces that
>move rocks to the surface.  As reported in one of the scientific journals
>a year or two ago, experiments show that rocks move to the surface because
>smaller soil particles are washed or sifted downward around the larger
>rocks and gradually displace larger bodies--the rocks--upward.
>
>How about erosion of the banks as an explanation for the A. franchetianum
>bulbs being on the surface?
>
Tony Avent
Plant Delights Nursery
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, NC  27603
USA
ph 919 772-4794
fx 919 662-0370
email  tony at plantdel.com
USDA zone 7, 0F-100F
"I Consider Every Plant Hardy Until I Have Killed It Myself...Three Times" -
Avent