Help wanted (A. elephas)

[Roy Herold]

At 9:27 PM -0500 3/26/99, Jim McClements, Dover, DE z6 is rumored to have
typed:

> 2. A. elephas seeds either don't germinate or else turn into tiny green
>tubers
> with only occasional efforts at top growth, and then fade from the scene.
> Anyone having success with these?
>


I must have planted several hundred A. elephas seeds here from the ones I
collected in 1996 at Tianchi Lake in Yunnan. I think I wound up with eight
pots, with four different soil mixes (coarse, fine, gritty, sandy, etc.),
and two different temperature regimens (warm immediately, or cold first).
Most all of them behaved the same-- fairly good germination, forming little
subterranean tubers the first season. Bigger than a pinhead, smaller than a
BB.

All the pots were wintered over in a cool greenhouse. They went outside in
April, and went through a few good freezing nights. Like you, I was sorely
disappointed when dozens of plants did not emerge when the weather warmed
up. There were a few spindly little plants, with three leaflets, that never
got more than an inch tall. Most faded away  by late summer. I still have
all the pots, but haven't checked what's in them since last year. Probably
nothing.

I had similar luck with the two elephas tubers I collected in the same
area. Fairly good growth the first year (1997), but with stunted blooms
that had a hard time emerging. Last year, I planted the tubers in the
ground instead of pots. One tuber refused to break dormancy; the other put
up a leaf (no flower) that disappeared in early summer (July?). (Note: No
animals were harmed, no populations were endangered, and no laws were bent
or broken during the collection and importation of these plants.)

So what's wrong here? I asked Chris Brickell who was on the ACE trip to the
same area in 1994. He said (in 1997) that it took two years for the elephas
seeds they collected to come up, but didn't mention anything about
aftercare. In the wild, these plants were growing in a very narrow band
about 50 feet from the edge of the lake, beneath some sort of deciduous
tree (sort of like a beech). The soil was primarily rotted leaves-- black
and loose. There were no plants that I saw closer to the lake, or farther
back in the forest which quickly turned into a mix of large abies and
rhododendrons. This seems to indicate that they are VERY picky about what
they grow in and under. Conversely, A. consanguineum ('the weed of Yunnan')
grew everywhere, in any sort of soil, any sort of exposure, and in the
company of a wide range of plants. Maybe we're just not giving elephas what
it really needs. Anybody tried growing it in pure leaf mold?

There is one more question: was this collection the true A. elephas, or a
near relation? I have not checked on two different seed lots of elephas
that were part of the AEG distribution last year. I just received a couple
of outstanding pictures from Anne Chambers of A. elephas (or near
relations) that she took in Tibet. These look a bit different from the one
I have. I'll be posting them on the Arisaema Page sometime this weekend--
you'll be notified when I do so.

--Roy
N. Reading, MA
Will start planting those seeds tomorrow. Promise.