BULLETIN - Heliconia Society International

More documents

Recommendations

Info

PAGE 8 THE BULLETIN // JANUARY DECEMBER 2005 2010HSI Lifetime Achievement AwardsAt the Conference in Singapore the Board of Directors,on behalf of all the members of the Heliconia SocietyInternational, recognized two founders of HSI withLifetime Achievement Awards. We thanked Dr. W.John Kress and Dr. Gilbert S. Daniels, and presentedthem with engraved crystal monoliths and honorarylifetime memberships in HSI. Both Gil and John werefounding members of the Society in 1985 and bothhave served as its President. Their long-term engagementin the study of heliconias and other members ofthe Zingiberales, their publications, and – in the case ofDr. Kress – continuing research merited this recognitionby the Heliconia Society International.Dr. W. John Kress receives the HSI LifetimeAchievement Award from Victor Lee at the XVIHSI Conference in Singapore, July 2010.Willis Black presented the HSI Lifetime AchievementAward to Dr. Gilbert S. Daniels inIndianapolis after the Singapore Conference.These words are engraved on the crystals:In Recognition of his Dedication and Contribution tothe Corpus of Knowledge of the Order Zingiberales,and his contributions to the Founding and Continuationof the Heliconia Society International, this LifetimeAchievement Award is hereby conferred on Dr. GilbertS. Daniels (Dr. W. John Kress). 16th July 2010Visit the Heliconia SocietyInternationalweb site atwww.heliconia.org
THE BULLETIN / JANUARY DECEMBER 2005 2010 PAGE 9After Collection and Identification --then comes CultivationJan Hintze, Australiahintze@ozemail.com.auThe Conservation aim of the Heliconia Society Internationalis increasingly becoming more important – thearea of vegetation loss is increasing, and species loss isbecoming critical, affecting all of the Zingiberalesgroup. Many of the plants in the group have enormousornamental value, which in itself is a cause for conservation,but the ginger group of plants is likely to havesignificant medicinal uses, as these plants have beenwidely used in this way by the local peoples, for manyhundreds and thousands of years. I leave it to others towork out ownership of the compounds involved in thisaspect, but I would emphasize that a proper understandingof cultivation outside their natural zone is essentialfor any purpose – be it species conservation,ornamental or medical uses.Many of those who start in such a way need informationof the environment from which the species came toenable them to successfully grow the plants in a domesticatedenvironment. Questions such as those followingcan be critical. Soil – is it swampy, sandy, pH neutral?Light – full sun, shady, dense cover, intermittent? Water– Wet tropical, wet/dry cycles, cloud forests? Althoughnurseries, landscapers, flower growers and gardenersare only likely to use the more attractive varietiesof Zingiberales, the importance of this sector indeveloping interests in conservation cannot be overlooked.Initially at least, many collections of the HSIConservation Centres were based on ornamental considerations.Temperature range can be a critical factor in determiningwhere the plant can be grown - many species areintolerant of major changes in temperature from theirnatural habitat; others are more tolerant.Light? Most heliconias and some gingers will toleratehalf to full sun, but their natural environments are oftenvery different. It should be understood that often, thelower the exposure to sunlight, the higher the humidity,so that attention should be paid to increasing protectionfrom dryness when light conditions are made brighter.Seed propagationSeed is often the only way to access new species, andto prevent the possibility of the spread of disease whichaccompanies the movement of plants, it is considereddesirable. Heliconias often only set seed where suitablehummingbirds are present, but other agents (ants, bugs,Left: Heliconia x Scarlet Torch foliage bleached by cold(10°C). Right, H. psittacorum ‘Sassy’ is undamaged.etc.) will occasionallydo thejob. Gingers aresometimes selfpo l l i n a t i n g ,sometimes insect-assisted.Heliconia seedgermination cantake up to 12-18months, whileginger seed,which are sensitiveto dryingout, generallygerminate quitequickly.The blue-black fruit of heliconiamay contain one to three seeds.The best way to germinate these (and most other) seedsis to sow them in shallow containers with some sphagnummoss, water them moderately, and seal the wholecontainer in a ziplock bag. There is no need to add anymore water, just checking occasionally for germinatedseed which needs to be transplanted out into tubes at the2-leaf stage, and the bag sealed up again to await thenext germination. A label should be sealed inside thebag identifying the seed.
Page 1 and 2: BULLETINA Journal of the Heliconiac
Page 3 and 4: THE BULLETIN / DECEMBER 2010 PAGE 3
Page 5 and 6: THE BULLETIN / DECEMBER 2010 PAGE 5
Page 7: THE BULLETIN / DECEMBER 2010 PAGE 7
Page 11 and 12: PAGE THE BULLETIN 12 / DECEMBER 201

BULLETIN - Heliconia Society International

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?