In 2005, I visited the Kampong in Florida to see the very old and large Philodendron stenolobum in that garden. Sadly, the plant had been badly damaged by a storm after being replanted. Does anyone have any idea whether the plant survived and is hopefully now thriving? Here's a pic of it in 2005, sans leaves, being wired close to a supporting structure. http://www.blueboard.com/pahatan/gambar/images/2005_9_15_kampong_dscn3338.jpg
I found this pic which shows the P. stenolobum BEFORE the transplant. It's from Brian Williams. He must have given me permission to use it? I can't remember, although it never ended up on the site...as you can see, it's a beautiful aroid.... http://www.blueboard.com/pahatan/gambar/images/2005_9_29_stenolobum_bwilliams.jpg If Brian sees this post, i'll ask permission again, do you mind if i use it, with links to your site of course....
From another forum, I heard that this magnificant aroid passed away and did not survive the defoliation. It's too bad, because I think that meco was nearly 100 years old (?)
The last time Julius talked about it the plant was recovering. I'll be down there in a few months and will try to get a current photo.
This info was from Larry Schokman, the director of the Kampong, and Julius also did not know it until it was posted. So you'll be going to the annual IAS meeting at Fairchild?
We bought our plane tickets three weeks ago! I am a dedicated IAS member and hope to see a bunch of you there! I do hope the Philodendron stenolobum is recovering. It was a magnificent specimen. I will be going over to see it though!
I probably won't be there...I'll be going to East Asia in November/December and I'm hoping to go to Brazil next year, so..... However, it would be interesting to see what plants are going on auction...also, what meco hybrids might be for sale...
We are trying to plan a trip to Ecuador right after the IAS show next year. So far we've found some very good prices so if any of you would like to come along let me know! I'm trying to arrange to be able to legally bring back cuttings.
The Palm nuts are going to Brazil next year too....maybe combine the trip? But Brazil is impossible to get anything out.
I'd love to do both. Part of my problem is I don't wish to be a deterent to other's on the trip and as most of you know I am in a wheelchair. We have been working on arrangements for a small bus that will take us to a number of collecting areas where most of the folks can easily get into the forest but I can take photos and collect specimens from established trails. Lorax (Beth Campbell) who posts on UBC has been working to help with the effort. We are hopeful we can pull an 8 day trip off for less than $2000 per person including airfare, hotels in various parts of Ecuador, meals, a bus, 4 wheel vehicles which will allow evn me to get into the forest plus the legal permits for the plants. I will be talking to Dr. Croat about this in 2 weeks in St. Louis. Right now the hotels a travel companies in Ecuador are very anxious for business and I would like to take advantage of the situation. At the very least we could buy plants from Ecuagenera and get them home with no problem. If anyone is interested just let me know. I've been fortunate to make several trips to Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador but that was when I had two working legs. Call me bull headed but I'm going back at least one more! Even if my legs dont' work, my eyes, laptop and camera finger still do!
I was assigned to do a photo article in Ecuador in 1986. Since that time I've wanted to go back and explore the country. I've begun to make it a point to specialize my personal collection to include plants primarily from Ecuador and Colombia as a result of Dr. Croat's work and now have a descent size collection. I'd love to be able to go hunt for a few species that I have a good idea where they originated but no positive collection data. Besides that, the country is friendly and fairly inexpensive to visit. Once Dr. Croat releases his journal Flora of Ecuador I hope to be able to learn moe about some of the plants I now have. Tom has been very good to help me ID some of the plants I've managed to acquire and a fair number are species he is in the process of identifiying to science.
