New old member

[Eduardo Goncalves]

Dear AEGers,

I am Eduardo Goncalves, from Brazil, and I am again in Arisaema-L. For
those that don't know me, let me introduce myself. I am an aroid researcher
and I work mainly with tropical and subtropical aroids. I am currently
working with molecular philogeny of the tribe Spathicarpeae (Spathicarpa,
Spathantheum, Synandrospadix, Taccarum, Gorgonidium, Gearum, Mangonia,
Asterostigma and probably Dieffenbachia and Bognera) and the revision of
Spathicarpa and Asterostigma, but I also work with Philodendron and
Xanthosoma. You can see some of my articles in the newest (1999) Aroideana.
When I started to study Aroids, I was impressed with the striking beauty
of Arisaema inflorescences, but just gave off about them because most of
them are not suitable to be cultivated here in the warm tropics.
My interest in Arisaema cultivation started when I was studying patterns
of petiolar collenchyma in the Araceae. I needed some living material and
the genus is not available for cultivation in Brazil. My first trying was
some seeds of A. dracontium, sent by Dr. Victor Soukup a couple of year ago.
It germinated promptly and grew fast in the first season. At the same time,
I had joined Arisaema-L and participated of the Seedex. I received
approximately 9 diferent species, and most of them presented 100%
germination. So my troubles started. The Brazilian snails loved Arisaema
seedlings and ate a lot of them. Some survivors were also (probably) killed
by very strong rainfall we had in the year of El Nino. With the help of
aroid-l, I could control the snails in my collection in Brasilia.  When the
survivors start to get dormant, another problem had just come. They should
to be put in the fridge, because our winter is never colder than 5 o C.
Well, I know some of you also do this, even in temperate regions. Now I
think that my lack of experience with temperate aroids did the rest. Only 3
tubercules of A. dracontium survivered the "frigde season". I took them to
Sao Paulo, where I am living now and planted them. The rest of this story,
only the snails know! They were the last ones that saw my last Arisaema
plants...
I spent a little time out of Arisaema-L and now I am back. I will try
to cultivate them again and will let you know if I can reach some progress
on cultivating these temperate goodies. If some of you know something about
cultivating Arisaema in tropical regions, please let me know too. By now, I
am just can't wait when I will kill... er grow Arisaema again!!! :o)

Best wishes,
Eduardo.
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