bockii, sazensoo and what they are.....

[C. R. Waldron]

I also received an "Ar. sikoikianum" from Chen Yi (not through Tony) =which is now in bloom.  Unfortunately the infloresence is deformed but =the spathe is purple striped with greenish-white and the appendix is =greenish-white and not swollen but rather flattened.  The leaf is =decidedly serrate and the leaf margin is red.  Does this agree with your =Ar. bockii, Wilbert?

Clarence
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From:   Wilbert Hetterscheid[SMTP:hetter at WORLDONLINE.NL]
Sent:   Tuesday, March 09, 1999 3:46 PM
To:     ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL
Subject:        bockii, sazensoo and what they are.....

<<File: ATT00000.html>>
Dear peoples,

I have received a few Arisaemas from Tony Avent a while ago, apparently =all from China. One has a spathe quite similar to that of Ar. =sikokianum, although hooded and partly pendulous. Of course it isn't Ar. =sikokianum (no swollen appendix top). It was given as sikokianum though. =Using the provisional key of the Flora of China by Li Heng (unpublished) =I arrive at Ar. bockii. This species may indeed be purple, although also =green (as it happens, I do have a green one flowering right now too, =which was given to me as Ar. du-bois-reymondii........). Murata's =provisional list of Chinese species (unpublished too), lists Ar. bockii =and has in its synonymy "A. sazensoo auct. in China", meaning "what =authors have called Ar. sazensoo in China". This again underlines the =possibility of purple spathes in bockii, as sazensoo is purple. 

Both Murata and Li Heng do not list Ar. sazensoo for the flora of China. =Contrary to this, Guy Gusman in his "Japanese Arisaemas" (Bull. Alp. =Gard. Soc. 65 - 1997) claims that Ar. sazensoo does occur in China =("continental Eastern China"). Following Murata, may we assume that Guy =actually means purple forms of Ar. bockii (as in my plant) and mistook =them for Ar. sazensoo? Guy, what's your latest opinion, hearing this? Or =did you already know this? 

Sazensically yours
Wilbock