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From: Roy Herold <rrh at GENESIS.NRED.MA.US>
Subject: Re: wet
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At 1:26 AM -0500 1/11/99, guy gusman is rumored to have typed:

> I should like to add one point/question. Is it sure that these specimen=s
> grow all the year through in boggy conditions?
> Think to some of our alpine boggy meadows. They are boggy when snow mel=ts
> in spring, but perfectly dry in winter. This kind of conditions are, at
> least for me, difficult to reproduce in our gardens.


I can speak a little about two native populations nearby, one of A.
triphyllum ssp. triphyllum, and the other of A. stewardsonii (sometimes
referred to as a ssp. of triphyllum, much to my chagrin).

The A. t. ssp. t. are growing in the lower part of my property, parts of
which are under water in the spring. Even in very, very wet years, I have
never seen standing water around the bases of the plants, although there =is
water inches away, and the soil is completely saturated. Just for
reference, most of the trees in this area are red maples, and there are
patches of Anenome quinquefolia here and there. In summers with low
rainfall, the ground gets quite dry, and the arisaemas suffer. Seedheads
sometimes abort, and the tubers shrink in size. In other years, the groun=d
stays damp. The population abruptly dwindles out where the ground gets
drier, and the trees switch over to oaks and hickories. I have transplant=ed
a number of these into my garden, and the ones that do best are the ones
that get the most water.

About a half kilometer away, on the other side of the Ipswich River (more
like a stream), is a stand of A. stewardsonii near the roadside. When I
first found these plants in the summer of 1997, the ground was damp, but
not soggy, and there was no standing water in sight. I collected a few
tubers at the time (I think I sent a couple to you, Guy). I kept a closer
eye on them this past spring, and noted the area was barely flooded in
April/May. When we had our monsoon in June (9 inches of rain in two days)=,
they were under a foot of water. I checked back in July, and most of the
water had receded, and the plants were doing well.

A. stewardsonii seems to do quite nicely in cultivation, in regular garde=n
soil that gets watered regularly. HOWEVER (and this is a big however), I
have noticed that most of the plants become female at a young age, and th=e
seed set is very poor due to lack of pollination. I wonder if the wetness
of their native habitats may control the M/F ratio a bit better, and resu=lt
in better propagation. Just a thought.... I have not looked for seeds on
the plants growing wild, however.

Has anyone seen A. dracontium growing in the wild? I'm curious as to wher=e
it likes to grow, especially in light of the fact that it seems to have
naturally hybridized with A. stewardsonii.

Roy Herold
N. Reading, MA
Where the rain washed all the snow away, and the ground is bare again.