New record?

[Jim McClements, Dover, DE z6]

This is really a first for me.

Last spring Toyozo Nakayama was kind enough to send me some seeds from Japan.
Included were seeds of A. ringens "albiflorus".  On 3-19-99 these were soaked
for several hours in a dilute detergent solution and then put in damp paper
towels.

On 4-5-99 germination was noted and all seeds were planted in pure turface in
standing water. They soon emerged and grew into unusually large, robust
seedlings.

On 8-31-99 all had gone dormant and 22 (of 24 planted seeds) tubers were
collected for the refrigerator. I noted at the time that they were unusually
large tubers for one growing cycle, with some being a centimeter or more
across. In fact, they were so large that I went ahead and planted 3 outdoors,
refrigerating 19.

On 12-1-99 the 19 were removed from the refrigerator, and on 12-15-99  were
planted in a potting mix, under lights. About a week ago I noted that they
were coming up with very large stalks, and today the first one produced a
flower!!! And others coming up are equally as large, if not larger.

In other words, in a little over 9 months, in its second growth cycle, this
form of A. ringens has gone from seed to flower. I've grown a lot of
arisaemas from seed over the past few years, but nothing even comes close to
this.

I  wonder if this might a tetraploid.

Any one else ever see this?

Jim