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lariann_gw

Aroidia Research announcement

lariann
19 years ago

RE: Alocasia 'calodora' and/or 'portidora'

I am posting this today because some of you may have one or both of the above two Alocasia hybrids in your collections.

I am LariAnn Garner, the Director of Aroidia Research, http://aroidiaresearch.org , and the Alocasia x calidora (aka "calodora", "caladora", "persian palm") and Alocasia x portora (aka "portidora", "portadora", "portodora") are two of our earliest hybrids, released to the trade in the early 1980s. Because Aroidia Research was inactive for a number of years after the release of those plants, we were unaware of the extent to which these plants have been propagated, sold, and distributed throughout the world. Now that Aroidia Research has resumed full activity, we have become aware of the widespread marketing and acceptance of these two plants, and we have decided to notify all those who might have these plants about their true origin and nomenclature.

The true origin of both plants is south Florida, not Persia (as in "persian palm") or tropical Asia. The parents of these plants did originate in countries other than the U.S.A., but the hybrid progeny came into being in south Florida, U.S.A.

Since our nomenclature for these plants was published in the journal of the International Aroid Society (the established International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) for aroids), Vol. 6, No. 3, July 1983, before they were released to the horticultural trade, the original grex names we gave these hybrids take precedence over any other names that marketers, collectors and/or growers have attributed to them subsequently. This is in accordance with Article H.4.1 of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Saint Louis Code), Appendix 1.

Therefore, we ask that you make the necessary change(s) in references to reflect both the valid nomenclature and the true origin of these two plants. The knowledge that those who are enjoying these plants know the correct names and origins of them is the only remuneration we are getting from the widespread distribution of these plants, believe it or not!

To recap, the Alocasias being sold as "calodora", "caladora" and/or "persian palm" are really our Alocasia x calidora, and the Alocasias being sold as "portidora", "portadora" or "portodora" are really our Alocasia x portora.

Please feel free to visit our website and learn a lot more about these two plants and many others we have currently under development.

Thank you for your consideration and attention.

LariAnn Garner

Director, Aroidia Research

Here is a link that might be useful: Aroidia Research

Comments (11)

  • hen11
    19 years ago

    i read your earlier post and i truly feel sorry for you not getting any of the money from the success of this plant. I just purchased alocasia X calidora from ebay and i live in the UK. i will inform my seller that it is not 'calodora' as it was wrongly named.

    I wonder who ever gave it the name persian palm?? just someone trying to make it sound interesting and exotic i suppose.

    great to be able to meet you,

    Hen

  • greenelbows1
    19 years ago

    I think if we hobbyists want new and special plants it is part of our responsibility to find out as much as we can about them and where they come from, and when they are hybrids to give the hybridizers credit. Very few hybridizers make money off their work, certainly not enough to pay for their time and patience and imagination, to say nothing about pots and soils mixes and so forth, so the least we can do is thank them by giving them the credit they deserve. Thank you!

  • Josh
    19 years ago

    Lariann, the clickable links at the top left of your website are just blank (no print) and won't work for me...I wanted to see photos and learn more about your work. Is anyone else having difficulty with the site? josh

  • hen11
    19 years ago

    would it be possible to make crosses between two different genus of plants? e.g. colocasia X alocasia. I am probably being very nieve.

    I would like to see more amorph crosses from anyone, there don't seem to be too many out there. I suppose it is very difficult to collect the pollen and store it, and then have to wait for another to bloom!

    but wouldn't you love to see a titanum X konjac?

  • daveandlaura
    19 years ago

    Josh, I got into the links -- and there is some interesting info there.

    Dave

  • greenelbows1
    19 years ago

    Just for the record--I couldn't get in either. Tried everything I could think of, 'cause I really wanted to see them. May try later on the real computer instead of this somewhat lesser beast.

  • lariann
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Just for the record, I've done my best to make my site available to as many browsers as possible; IE, AOL, and Mozilla display everything fine, and I'm pretty sure that Netscape will as well. If you have a specific browser issue, please email me privately so as to keep this thread on-topic. I've added text menus for those whose browsers are not script enabled; if you can't see images, please check your browser to see if image displaying is disabled. Some people disable images to allow pages to load faster.

    Thanks for your attention.

    LariAnn Garner
    Aroidia Research

    Here is a link that might be useful: Aroidia Research

  • bluebonsai101
    19 years ago

    Just for your info Hen. There have been successful crosses of Amorphs in the past. Wilbert Hetterscheid acknowledges this on the IAS web site if you look a bit. I know that Alan Galloway has crossed some species as well and gotten seed, although I do not know if it germinated. I just did a cross of verticillatus x konjac a few weeks back. I have seed set on this hybrid, but it will be many years before I have any success to report assuming the seed grow. As pointed out above, you will never get rich trying to do these sorts of things, but it is fun!! I've got more pollen saved so when my flowering corrugatus and kachinensis come in from Thailand in a week or so I will try for more crosses. Likely nothing will ever come of it, but still sort of fun......Can not imagine what the results of a cross between a dwarf verticillatus with a very bumpy spadix and a tall konjac would be, but hopefully someday I can let everyone know....not likely, but just maybe :o) Dan

  • hen11
    19 years ago

    does anyone have any suggestions for amorph hybrids?

    not that i have any sort of ability to produce them, just thought that maybe some researcher may come and look back on this thread for ideas. I will make a new thread so we can keep this one on-topic.

    look for 'amorphophallus hybrid suggestions' thread

  • HawCreek
    18 years ago

    so is there a plant called calodora and if not, why cant this "X" be called that since so many have seemed to have adopted it?

    what happned that you did not get it properly named?

  • lariann
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    HawCreek,

    The name "calodora" is a made-up name that came about as a result of oversealous and ill-informed merchants and/or wholesalers. I had nothing to do with that name and I was not consulted about the use of that name.

    The reason why I insist that the correct name be used is because this is my work and as long as I am deriving no financial return on the sale of the plant, I want at least the recognition that I did develop it, and that those selling it use the correct name that I gave to it.

    How did this happen? Basically, I naively shared the plant with people I considered to be friends and fellow collectors, and some of them decided that they would commercialize it without my knowledge and consent. I was inactive in my work for a number of years so I was unaware that this had been going on until I did some searches and found out how widespread the distribution of my plants has become. Of course, I've not seen a check show up in my mailbox as a result of all these worldwide sales, either.

    Those who did this will have reason to regret it because the 2005 hybridizing year has been, so far, very successful. Those who have respected my wishes will be among the first to benefit when I am ready to release these new developments.

    And, for the record, the plant WAS correctly named and the correct naming was published in accordance with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, as I detailed in the message that began this thread. The correct name was disregarded or corrupted by those whose primary interest was the exploitation of this plant. If you are unclear about this point, please go to the beginning of the thread and read my original post.

    LariAnn Garner
    Aroidia Research

    Here is a link that might be useful: Aroidia Research

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