A. jacquemontii

[Anne Chambers]

Folks - I've just returned from northern Nepal where I collected A.
jacquemontii seed that I've passed on to Craig. This was the only
species whose identity I could be sure of because the heads had
degenerate leaves attached and I got enough to distribute - it grows up
to an altitude of 13,500 feet (4115 m), one of the highest arisaemas,
usually in the middle of Berberis or other shrubs where the yaks can't
get at it! The plants appear to grow singly and don't seem to make a
colony. I found the best way to clean seed 'in the field' is to put all
the berries into a poly bag then mush them up by squeezing till the pulp
disintegrates. Add some water, the pulp floats and can be decanted off,
keeping the seed carefully in one corner of the bag and repeating as
necessary. Then the seed can be dried on tissues - minimum effort and no
contact.
A few weeks ago I queried the viability of my jacquemontii seed from the
garden because it looked so small but the seed in the wild is the same
size, and anyway my garden seed has started germinating well!

Anne
--
Anne Chambers