I'm writing on behalf of a friend of mine who is presently doing a PhD at
New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) on three genera in the family
Aristolochiaceae. This includes the two monotypic genera Euglypha and
Holostylis and the large genus Aristolochia (c. 400 spp.).
His name is Favio Gonzalez and although the PhD is essentially a
morphological treatment of these taxa, he is planning to include molecular
data for a representive number of species and is presently trying to
collect/gather the necessary leaf material for DNA extraction.
The reason I am writing to this group is because I realise that many of
you not only grow cp's but lots of other interesting (`weird and
wonderful') plants, among them Aristolochia.
Favio's e-mail address is:
FGonzalez@NYBG.org
and he would greatly appreciate it if people growing ANY Aristolochia
species (and/or the two other genera) would write at him at his personal
e-mail address (as above: not that of the cp list) with any information
about the species you grow. It's not necessary that the exact `wild
origin' be known for these plants as hybrids are relatively rare. His
intension is to collect a small sample of silica dried leaf material, and
a voucher specimen for each so that they can be positively identified
before being studied further.
It could also be a very useful opportunity for any of you to have your
Aristolochia species `positively' identified, if you presently have any
doubts, as Favio is also working on a monographic revision for all
Aristolochia species from the Neotropics and might be correctly regarded
as an authority on the genus.
With thanks for your time,
Joe M.