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hardy  Aroids)" <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL> Aroids)" <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
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From: Adam Fikso <irisman at AMERITECH.NET>
Subject: Re: Arisaemia cold vs warm
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Robin Bell" <rgb2 at CORNELL.EDU>
To: <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 7:47 AM
Subject: Arisaemia cold vs warm


> "OK but what keeps them dormant? They cannot have jet lag forever.
> Something
> makes them start growing. It cannot be moisture and it cannot be "dead
> reckoning". What could be the advantage of starting late in the natural
> conditions?"

It is possible to answer this  question theoretically without being
committed to any actual known information about any particular species.  =The
advantages are likely related to the advent of a rainy season, the end of=a
cold season, the hatch time of  pollinators  in the plant's original
provenance, or the growth of mycorrhizae that trigger a chemical reaction=in
the tuber's external skin which in turn triggers root growth, etc.   We
don't  know, for the most part.

Research in the area is not likely to be funded readily  because most
arisaemas are not big cash crops, not like potatoes, or all the colocasia=s
and related aroids that known as taro or cocoyam, yautia, malanga,etc.  W=e
can pool our observations, however, and report them here.

There is a substantial literature I ran across this morning on dormancy a=nd
factors determining its length in potatoes.  Not a close relative of aroi=ds,
but perhaps partially relevant.


> Day length can also be an important factor for many plants & animals in
> temperate climes. I don't know whether or not it is for some Arisaemias
> perhaps someone here does know? Other factors may also come into play.
>
> Robin Bell Ithaca, NY, zone 5, where the candidissimum are decidedly la=te.
>