The Variegated Thumb

A while back, I mentioned my purchase of Anthurium scandens.  I was lucky enough to purchase the plant on eBay, only to be given one a couple of days later.  At that time I was a little annoyed I had spent money on a plant, only to receive a larger one for free.  But then a couple of months later, when my free cutting died, I was glad that I had purchased the original.

The feature that really drew me to this plant was the “woody” appearance.  It has a “woody” look because it has persistent brown cataphylls.  In laypeople’s terms, the stems of the plant have little brown sheaths that cover the green stems.  Another cool attribute of the plant is the profusion of adventitious roots coming out of the length of the stem, as well as inflorescences at nearly every node.  These inflorescences self-pollinate and bear white fruit (berries).  It is quite remarkable, unlike any other aroid I have ever grown.

Anthurium scandens - photo courtesy Christopher Rogers. It is easy to see the woody appearance here, as well as the adventitious roots all over the place.

Anyway, the plant that I purchased, I still have.  But it has barely grown for me and doesn’t have the distinct persistent cataphylls.  Maybe this is just a variation or maybe my plant is just not mature enough yet.  Time will tell.

Anthurium scandens - photo courtesy Derek Powazek. Notice the color of the berries. And again the adventitious roots are prominent.

Then recently, I received some seeds from a friend of Anthurium scandens and now have little seedlings growing!  I’m super pumped about these little guys.

Anthurium scandens seeds germinating

Anthurium scandens seedlings - as of January 16, 2012.

I also got a cutting from Jason’s plant, who got his at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden at our MidAmerica meeting.  So these are cuttings from the same plant that I had.  I’m really happy to have this plant back in my collection and I looking forward to my seedlings becoming mature.

Anthurium scandens cutting from Jason

As legend has it, the founder of the Buddhist faith, Siddhartha Gautama, gained his enlightenment after meditating for 49 days underneath a tree.  That tree, for obvious reasons, has been sacred to the Buddhist faith ever since.  In many ways it is equivalent to the cross on which Christ was crucified.  Some old Christian churches claim to have pieces of the original cross and those pieces are considered holy relics.

The Bodhi tree is unique in that it is a living relic, so it continues to spread throughout the world over time.  The Bodhi tree has been given many names including “Bo tree” and “pipal tree.”  These names are used in reference to the original tree, as well as all trees of that species.  The Latin for this species is Ficus religiosa.  It is a large Banyan, fig tree.  The original tree was located in northeastern India, near the border with Nepal.  Since then, the tree has been propagated to several different locations, resulting in a chain of highly-revered trees which have a tie to world history.  One of the famous propagated trees is in the Foster Botanical Gardens in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Christie and I visited that garden in May 2009 and saw the gigantic Buddha tree.

Recently the tree growing in the Foster Botanical Garden began to set seed.  In Hawaii, this is worthy of concern, as the tree could become invasive, if the seedlings are not removed while they are small.  My good friend, Leland, who has ties to the Foster Botanical Garden, obtained some of these seedlings and sent them to me.

Ficus religiosa leaf

The leaves of this tree are beautiful: cordate with an extended tip, giving them an unmistakable appearance.

Ficus religiosa sapling

I wrote about my cuttings of Silver Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus var. sericeus) in my Florida acquisitions post a couple of weeks ago.  It has now been about 7 weeks since I prepared my cuttings and put them into the sealed container of vermiculite.  I have uncapped the top a couple of times to check and see how they were doing, removing any dead leaves from the stems, but otherwise leaving them alone.  The good news is that only a couple of leaves have fallen off the cuttings and they seem to be pretty happy.  The cuttings that I put directly in water began to rot within a couple of days and they quickly lost all of their leaves.  So I was feeling pretty good about my sealed container of cuttings.

Silver Buttonwood cutting with one root starting

Last night I decided it was time to pluck one of the cuttings and see if there was any root growth started.  I was expecting either a bunch of tiny, fibrous roots or nothing.  This is based solely on my past experiences with rooting semi-hardwood cuttings.  What I found, instead, was one thick little root starting.  Not fibrous by any stretch of the imagination.

First root emerging from a Silver Buttonwood cutting

I’m really happy to see this root emerging and now I have an idea about the rate of growth.  7 weeks = 1/2 cm.  Pretty slow.  However, it’s possible that the root really just started to emerge recently and will grow much quicker now that it has started.  It’s also possible that these cuttings want something different – substrate, light, temperature, water.  Who knows.  I’m glad I’m getting some results.

I carefully replaced the cutting in the container and left the others alone.  I will give them another month or so, before checking again.  Hopefully at that time, they will be ready to transplant to individual pots and start life as little saplings.

My friend, Jason, sent me some orchid seedlings about a month ago, along with a cutting of a Maxillaria.  I put all of these little orchids in pots of moist sphagnum and put them in sealed plastic container.  (It’s actually one of those containers they put rotisserie chickens in at Wal-Mart.)

I’ve been checking on these little ones pretty regularly, making sure I’m not growing mold in there and that the orchids aren’t rotting.  Nothing much has been happening one way or another.

Orchid prenatal ward

Just recently I looked at the container and noticed some yellow.  Uh-oh, I thought.  Something is getting fried or is unhappy.  I opened the container to find that that little Maxillaria variabilis cutting was in bloom!

Maxillaria variabilis

So much for raising a plant to blooming size!

Maxillaria variabilis

Sometime in late December or early January I had an Aglaonema bloom.  I was planning on collecting some of the pollen and using it to pollinate future blooms on my other Aglaonemas, but I didn’t get any after all.  I have left the inflorescence alone and was surprised to see a couple weeks after the spadix was “finished” that berries were beginning to form on the lower half of the spadix.

Aglaonema commutatum infructescence - Feb 3, 2011

Time ticks by and the berries begin to get larger and darker green.

Aglaonema berries - April 28, 2011. Notice that a couple berries are getting large.

At the same time, the 2nd inflorescence on the plant began to set fruit as well.  But these berries were a little behind the other set and eventually this infructescence shriveled up and fell off the plant.

Aglaonema berries on 2nd infructescence - April 28, 2011

The berries on the original infructescence stayed large and firm with very little change in color or size over the summer.  Then, all of the sudden, I noticed the berries were orange.  I reached down to feel of them and the first big berry had become soft and fell right off the spathe.  This is the sign I was looking for.  I plucked the berries off and here they are.

Aglaonema berries - August 18, 2011

The berries vary greatly in size.  There are a total of 11, 3 of them of decent size and the others pretty tiny.  I’ll get these cleaned and planted this week, knowing they need to be fresh.

Now I have another Aglaonema setting berries, Aglaonema Decora.  Wish me luck with all of my aroid seedlings.  I’m going to need it with these extreme temperatures!