Anthurium seed. A BIG word of caution!

No one is saying they "won't grow" in Turkey. We are saying the rare species you claim to be selling cannot be found naturally in Turkey! Anthurium are grown all over the world, but they do not exist there naturally outside the areas named in Dr. Croat's paper.

Every link you posted is the extremely common form which to a scientist or collector is known as Anthurium andreanum. These look absolutely nothing like Anthurium superbum or the vast majority of species you claim to be selling.

Again, please ladybotany, go sign up for a botany course on Anthurium species! Many of us who are posting here have studied them for years!

 

Um I have absolutely 0 knowledge of the plant in question but I did read every single post for this thread and what I seem to see is that Ladybotany has got her wires crossed so to speak.
From what I have read Anthurium grow everywhere but not naturally and nobody has said they won't grow in Turkey, what they have said is that the seeds you (ladybotany) claim to have are not the rare ones you claim to have.
Can you also explain why your story of where the seeds were found changed twice?
What you paid for them from the so called "other seller" and why you don't think you were suckered into a con deal? Or maybe you were and are trying to get your money back.

I hope the long arm of the law comes knocking at yours and your associates door.

 

For those of you, including ladybotany, who do not understand the genus Anthurium well, please go to this forum:

http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=272

You will find a post called "An Anthurium introduction". It is broken into three parts due to the word limit on a single post. Start with Part 1 before advancing to Part 2 and Part 3. I think you will find the answers to the majority of your Anthurium questions posted. But just in case I missed something, there are some honest to goodness Anthurium experts posting on this forum. Just post your question and someone will try to answer for you!

I wrote this primer with the help of several aroid experts. If someone finds an error, I'm always happy to learn! But this has been peer reviewed and I believe you will find the vast majority to be scientifically accurate.

 

This morning I received a private note from an individual who has posted on this thread. I tried to respond but the individual has set their preferences so I cannot send them mail. I'm therefore left only to post this explanation here.

There appears to be a great deal of confusion regarding whether or not any Anthurium will grow in Europe or Asia. Please read this carefully. Nobody has said an Anthurium CANNOT be grown in Europe or Asia. We are all saying Anthurium species do not grow NATURALLY in Europe and Asia. They do not grow naturally in Arkansas, but I have around 60 species! But only a few ever produce seeds! Anthurium species grow in a rain forest! The biggest Anthurium collection in the United States is at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. And they don't grow naturally in Missouri either. Again, they grow in a rain forest. But if you are willing to give them the environment they require, you can grow one anywhere! But it will be highly unlikely you will produce viable seeds on a regular basis!

But one poster on this forum keeps attempting to change the subject and make it appear they do grow in Europe and Asia and other places. They do not grow NATURALLY anywhere in the world other than Southern Mexico, Central America, South America, and parts of the Caribbean. That is a scientific fact and I have posted a link to one of aroid botanist Dr. Thomas B. Croat's papers to substantiate that fact. Please take the time to go read Dr. Croat's paper. By the way, Dr. Croat is one of the top aroid botanists in the world. Nobody has written more scientific papers, or given more Anthurium species their scientific name than Dr. Croat. He is the top authority in this field of plant species.

Again, I'm posting that link here: http://www.aroid.org/genera/anthurium/abstrap1.htm

Anthurium is grown by collectors in Alaska! I receive email from people in Iran, Iraq and several other desert countries that ask questions about growing Anthurium. YES! You can grow them just about anywhere. But you cannot go out into the local rain forest, and I don't think there is a rain forest in Turkey, and simply collect one. They do not live NATURALLY in that part of the world.

Now, you can go to India, parts of Scandinavia and many other places and find large companies growing Anthurium. But they are all growing a very common species, which has been hybridized (man made forms) for many years. That species is Anthurium andreanum. And it is the one that produces those colorful little spathes everyone keeps posting photos of to try to prove Anthurium grow in Europe and Asia. The vast majority of Anthurium produce spathes, that although interesting to a collector, ARE NOT sold by a florist shop! Many of the truly rare species grow to enormous sizes! They can have leaf blades almost 2 meters long!

I have no doubt Anthurium is being grown in Cypress. I have no doubt it is being sold in the flower shops in Turkey and other countries. I have a great doubt that any of the extremely rare species listed on these eBay auctions are being mass grown in Cypress, Turkey, Italy, Greece or anywhere else. Despite the repeated claims of at least one poster, THESE ARE RARE SPECIES! There are many members of the International Aroid Society that collect them. They ARE RARE. The common forms like Anthurium andreanum ARE NOT RARE. And that is apparently why their scientific names are being used to try to sell seeds. The seller believes they can cause people to buy them at a high price DUE TO THEIR RARE STATE, EVEN IN NATURE! It it is obvious the seller hopes people will pay a high price for just a tiny few seeds.

I know of no way to make this any clearer. Here is the point that has many in the International Aroid Society concerned. NO ONE, I REPEAT NO ONE, has a steady supply of seeds from rare Anthurium species. NO ONE! And NO ONE has a staple supply of seeds they can pull off the shelf to sell at anytime! LariAnn has as much success as anyone growing Anthurium and producing seeds. She does not even have the supply of exotic and rare seeds this seller is claiming to have!

Why? Because the seeds of Anthurium species DO NOT last a long time. It is called viability. An Anthurium seed is only viable (remains alive) for a short period of time. If anyone was trying to sell 5 seeds at a time, the vast majority would soon be dead, even if they actually had those seeds! This seller has a BUY IT NOW posted for a very high price for 5 seeds!

By the time anyone receives these "seeds" the chances are high they will no longer be alive, even if they actually have the rare seeds! And it will take at least two years, probably three years, to verify what species you receive. By then, the seller will not be found! Buying these is a gigantic gamble!

The chances of anyone receiving a viable (live) seed sent through the mail in an envelope is NILL! They will be crushed in the mail. These seeds MUST be properly packed in a special way. Even those of us who buy them from Ecuador only receive a small fraction of seeds that are VIABLE (ALIVE). And the people down there know how to pack them! And they don't come in a plain envelope!

I'm sorry for the caps and bold. But I must drive this point home. It is not possible for anyone to have 70 or 80 species of RARE Anthurium seeds and keep them alive for a long time. Thirty days would be a long time! Rare Anthurium produce (typically) once per year. You just can't keep those seeds alive for a long period of time! It can't be done. Please go to the Anthurium primer I posted and read all of it! That will explain how an Anthurium reproduces. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=32905

Now, Anthurium andreanum (the one with the pretty little spathe) will produce in captive growth several times a year. Many people regularly grow seeds from that species. And IT NOW APPEARS, the seeds being offered with the names of very RARE species are only Anthurium andreanum seeds. That one is NOT rare!

If this is not clear, send me another personal note and I will answer again. But this time, please unblock your email so I can send the message.

Many Anthurium species are very rare. And yes, you can grow them anywhere you are willing to give them the correct environment. But not in mass quantity! Only the more common varieties can be grown like that. Millions are grown in Hawaii and India every year. And Anthurium species are not naturally found in Hawaii or India either!

The link you sent as proof Anthurium are grown, and sold, in your country is of Anthurium andreanum. It is very common.

Below are photos of several rare and rarer Anthurium species. You won't find these being sold in any florist shop! And by the way, these photographs are registerd with the U.S. Library of Congress with a legal copyright. I don't take kindly to my photographs being used without permission. All Photographs © 2007 Steve Lucas

 

I've just added a few photos of some of the rarer forms of Anthurium spathes. I deliberately left off the species name. If any would like to know, send me a private note. These look nothing like the Anthurium spathes sold in florist shops!

 

The middle one looks a bit like mine....and yes I would like a private note please mate.

Ed

 

Spoke too soon when I commented to some privately that the eBay Anthurium offers with photos lifted from other sites were now gone. As of tonight, many are back! It is your money, but you can now even find warnings posted on eBay! Several of them! Several have tracked back and found another seller from Ankara, Turkey attempted and was successful at selling many "rare" plant seeds on eBay that were never delivered using another seller name. Interestingly, their "warehouse" was also in Cypress. And their major buyer who left positive feeback was in the Caribbean. After a short time, they simply vanished.

If you check, the seller that always leaves positive feedback is from the Caribbean. But look closer. They leave positive feedback on the same day the auction ends! How is it possible to receive seeds from Turkey shipped to the Caribbean on the same day? If you go back further, you'll find the same buyer has bought seeds from a seller in Ankara, Turkey before and has always left positives on the same day the auction ends But if you look closely, you'll see that previous seller received a bunch of negatives from people who said they never received anything! Something is just not right about all of this! How do you pay for and receive seeds over that distance on the same day?

Read all of the cautions and...............Buyer. BEWARE!

 

Edit

 

Want to file a complaint with eBay because they apparently won't police their own site?

Here are some telephone numbers you may find useful:

Spokesperson: Kevin Pursglove, 408-558-7458
Hours: 7:30AM - 5:30PM PT M-F
Employee's Extension: press 1
Dial by name directory: press 0
Customer Service: press 2
Operator: press 3

Note: In late November eBay closed the account of the seller ladybotany noted in this thread due to excessive complaints.

 

Actually I am tired with kind of This Trading.

I dont have clearness about some seeds yet. I hope I can get the money back.

 

If you responded at some point to this post regarding a seed selling scam on eBay, you should be aware of a new post today on UBC from a user in England which indicates that Ladybotany is back on eBay using a new name. The new name is 5eeds (not seeds, but the number 5 followed by "eeds"). There are now 10 pages of supposed "seeds" for sale from Ankara, Turkey". This is the same location that Ladybotany and at least one previous "seed" seller who also did not deliver advertisised as their base of operation. eBay has closed this seller's account at least twice before for not delivering what was being advertised and paid for. So far none are aroids. Use caution.

This is a list of all the "seeds" this seller is offering:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZ5eeds

Please note: there is a seller named "seeds" on eBay that is reliable.