Hi Stush, Russ, Thanks for taking the time to clear things up. I had started a series about the same time as the Sayuri but ended up giving them all away during a move. I started again recently and took a handful of leaf cuttings. Right now a Bantel's Sensation, variegated masoniana, Kirkii Silver, Fernwood Mikado, and a Concinna x Sudwalla hybrid. In the last case, the leaves are on the tender side and they were broken during planting as I received it bare root a month ago. The cuttings appear to have taken and now it's just the wating game. I dont expect anything that odd from most of them, I think at best, loss of variegation on the masoniana and Bantel. But that just means two more varieties that should grow a little more vigorously than the variegated mothers. Regarding the identification of the base form of that Sayuri, unvariegated forms of S. guineensis" seem to be pretty close to what I have coming out of that pot. I think any other differences can be chalked up to sunlight, soil, and weather. My plants stay indoors. On a tangent, the original Sayuri mother and a short leaf trifasciata are in bloom right now, one in a east window, and one in a west, so here's to hoping all the manual pollination yields something. Even if the base species themselves are relatively unremarkable, it's fun to try my hand at hybridization. Best wishes Stush, depression is rough and all I can say is keep on keeping on. Remember the good times and fight through the bad.

Birch for Northern Michigan too. Could be red, Acacia, no way. I hadn't hear of it being used for flooring until the early part of the 20th century. I don't even think it grows in the USA.

There are 3 other Symplocarpus species in different parts of Japan, but this one looks like our native S. foetidus. I'm not sure what those 3 Asian species look like. You must have a seep or moist area if that's growing in your yard.

Here is a link of species in FL and photos. https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Genus.aspx?id=718