Wild, Wonderful Aroids - Part 5 - Pinellia - Page 3© Marge Talt
Page 3
May 16, 2003
Fan-leaf Chinese green-dragon is the only common name I've run into for this species and it may be a rather fanciful one, dreamed up by the nursery listing it, since that's the only place I found it.
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This poor tuber was found laying on its side on top of the soil, the victim of one of our local squirrel digging contests, no doubt. The spathe had started to grow toward the light at an acute right angle.
You can see how the roots emerge from the top of the tuber. The blackish bits are remnants of the papery tuber covering; the brownish bits the remainder of old roots.
Safely potted up after its photo session, it's now straightening out, spath pointed skyward, as it should be.
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| Turned upright here, you can see the spathe elongating and the unfolding leaf below it.
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We are not often given the opportunity to observe the unfolding of a leaf; we hurry past this little miracle, bent on weeding, planting or pruning and don't notice what is happening at ground level.
Nature's tidy packaging always amazes me. Whether a leaf, flower, the crosier of a fern or the emerging embryo of a seed, all the parts are there in miniature, intricately folded.
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Pinellia tripartitaP. tripartita, from southern Japan, is much better behaved in the same bed as P. pedatisecta. It has seeded around a bit, but by no means excessively. The distinctive, polished foliage remains pristine all season. Give it a ring-side seat so you can enjoy it. Each leaflet can range from three to eight inches (8 - 20 cm) in length on plants that can reach eighteen inches tall (45 cm) when fully mature, but are generally closer to a foot (30cm) tall.
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The three to four inch (8-10 cm) spath is often somewhat hidden by the foliage, unlike that of P. pedatisecta, but the spadix rises another six to ten inches (15 - 25cm) until late summer when it droops back to the ground.
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There are two forms of P. tripartita that are on my lust list.
Pinellia tripartita 'Atropurpurea' differs from the species only in the marvelous purple interior spathe color.
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The copyright of the article Wild, Wonderful Aroids - Part 5 - Pinellia - Page 3 in Shade Gardening is owned by Marge Talt. Permission to republish Wild, Wonderful Aroids - Part 5 - Pinellia - Page 3 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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