hi, It was about 2 feet high. There are a lot of hemlocks were I live. It appeared more of a plant than shrub to me, but I did not examine it thoroughly. If i get back there any time some soon, I will be sure to see if I can find any tall specimens. thanks for the feedback, looks like a good lead to me.

I was really hoping for more input from a bunch of people on this subject but it appears it is time to wrap this one up. Since most people don't really want to bother with ever watering their plants, many people go into a garden store and a very rich potting soil that stays soggy all the time. As a result you may eventually kill your plant. Many plant species can literally drown in mucky soil! For some unexplained reason many growers believe the rich soil makes a plant grow better! Typical "potting soils" just don't work for the vast majority of tropical plant species since most grow in trees, not in soggy soil. The roots of many tropical plants are designed to*collect rain water during the wet season and suffer through the dry season. But even in the dry season a specimen can collect enough water from the humidity around their exposed roots to survive. * Although house plant growers commonly believe tropical plants do not need water in winter that belief is simply a myth. Tropical plants live in very humid conditions and are capable of gathering water directly from the air even during the drier portions of the year when it doesn't rain on a daily basis. Dew and fog are very important contributors to the water available to a tropical rain forest plant species and homes don't have dew or fog! If we deny the plant the water they crave they only suffer and will never be able to display their natural beauty. In the temperate rain forest the amount of water available from the dew alone is estimated to be between three to five percent of the total annual precipitation! As a result, your tropical plants need water year round but it is wise to reduce the amount offered during the winter. We water every week of the year averaging four days a week in summer and three days per week in winter. As can be seen in the photo the plants love water. Despite the belief of far too many growers, growing plants is not just about the water content of the soil! The advice to water only once a week and keep the top two inches of the soil dry is not always good advice! Many aroids and other plant species grow in very wet soil! Instead it is about the fast flow of water through the soil or the lack thereof which causes a lack of oxygen, anerobic fermentation and saprophytes which turn into pathogens. Saprophytes are organisms including fungus or bacteria that grow on and draw nourishment from dead or decaying organic matter which often includes soggy wet soil. The pathogens attack the roots and cause them to rot so all of the advice to "slow down on the water" is really about how to control the pathogens. Fermentation and saprophytes often occur in muddy soil that will not not allow the roots to breathe but they don't necessarily occur in water which is why we can cause a plant that is about to die to grow new roots in clean water. As a result, it is necessary to use soil mixes that allow the roots to breathe and will not remain soggy. I've attempted in many threads to explain the necessity of mixing proper soil for plants but the advice is often ignored since it requires some "work" on the part of the plant's keeper. The reason plants rot is not the amount of water given to the plant! These are rain forest plants and are literally drowned for months at a time! If you could visit a rain forest you would quickly learn the soil is composed of leaf litter, decaying wood, compost and the charcoal left behind when a part of the forest burns. If we'll just listen to Mother Nature we can all make our plants grow as they should in nature. That is precisely what I attempt to explain when I recommend mixing soil, not just buying a bag at the store. Over time we've developed a soil mixture for most of our aroid and tropical species. We use this mixture on the advice of the aroid keepers at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. The goal of this mix is to allow the roots to freely find places to extend and grow without constantly finding wet places where they will rot. This mix will remain damp but drain quickly. Rather than using a rich, soggy soil and watering only once a week (or less), use a soil that holds moisture well but drains quickly. With the help of botanical garden researchers we've developed a soil mixture*for most of our specimens that works great. People who visit our artificial rain forest are often amazed at the size of many of our specimens which grow much faster and larger than they often do in a home. The exact mixture is not critical but we use*roughly 40% potting mix combined with 20% high quality peat moss, 20% orchid potting media containing charcoal, hard wood and gravel), and the balance cypress mulch mixed, with 10% Perlite and finely shredded pieces of sphagnum moss. We often add extra charcoal such as aquarium charcoal or hardwood charcoal to help purify the soil and sometimes volcanic rock If you are concerned about your soil remaining wet just add more orchid mix, cypress mulch, Perlite and sphagnum moss. We grow many different species in this basic mixture and*some of our specimens have reached their adult or near adult size and regularly produce a spathe and spadix (inflorescence). *The goal of*our mixture is to cause the water to flow through the soil quickly, remain slightly damp, but never soggy. The roots of our plants attach to the bark just as they do in nature*on the side of a tree. Most growers call a mix similar to the one we use a "jungle mix". Again, I welcome your input. We also openly invite anyone living or visiting in MidAmerica to visit our private botanical garden. There is never a charge. You can see photos on the homepage of our website.

Good luck with your determinations folks on the Ithomiinae family from these low resolution pictures. I probably have more experience with this family than all the folks who run this forum regularly combined, and I wouldn't attempt a determination without the bug in hand. There are about 300-400 Neotropical sp/ssp in 3-4 dozen genera of this family, with many dozens that are so close (not even taking into account for species variation) that even the experts in this family often can only give their best guess WITH the bug in hand. So I won't support any of the guesses. BTW bandjzmom, pellucida is a subspecies of Ithomia agnosia unless it has been reassigned to species level since my work with this group years ago. The Sister is an Adelpha cytherea ssp IMO. Fun to have you here Siam as the tropical species were never brought up much until you started posting your pictures. Gives me an excuse to dig into the Neotropical drawers of my synoptic collection. Larry

Not adapted to conditions on this side of the mountains. There was a garden form with yellow flowers being sold locally awhile back but it seems to have come and gone quickly. Possibly it was more tractable than usual. New introductions coming from one or a few suppliers may be dropped quickly for reasons other than the plant being hard to grow - I found the new cherry red tulip with the blue interior markings to be quite good yet despite special promotion with posters etc. by the introducer and supplier it too seems to have disappeared after only a few years. I've forgotten the cultivar name and when I have asked about it at local outlets (still buying from the same company) have gotten blank looks. It had a forgettable cultivar name like 'Spring Beauty' but you'd think considering the promotion it got and its unusual characteristics that it would have made more of an impression on someone working with it only a year or to beforehand.