Hi Petrushka, I'm glad to see you here because I couldn't find your other thread where you asked other questions about ags. That was 4 or 5 days ago, maybe you can help me with finding that thread and I'll respond there.

In this thread, the ag in the foreground is indeed 'Pseudobracteatum'. Some of these have a lot of green in leaves like this one, others have a lot more white.

The one with stripes in the same photo is Aglaonema 'Stripes'. This is quite slow-growing considering it's mostly green. I've thought that it's very similar to the species A. nitidum.

The 'spotty one' in center, has someone told you it's not a Dieff?? I have this plant and is a Dieff labeled 'Star White'. I can't guarantee the name since I got it from a collector, but it is a dieffenbachia. I'll post a pic of one of mine here in a couple of days, out of town tomorrow.

The bottom pic is Aglaonema 'Brilliant'. I'm seeing it in Lowe's and Home Depot but renamed 'White Lightning'. Maybe a way to get around Dr. Frank Brown's royalties as the hybridizer. He patented it around 1998, I don't think the patent has expired yet.

Dr. Brown had aglaonemas planted in the ground at his estate and business in Valkaria Florida when I visited him in the mid-90s. They will last a number of years in the ground, but in my experience will eventually get a bacterial root rot and decline. I had several different hybrids in the ground at my parent's home in Cocoa Beach in very sandy soil. Cassandra, Key Largo, couple of others. They lasted at least 5 years but were declining a couple of those years. When I pulled them up the roots were rotted and brown colored.

Root rot in ags is easily corrected if you catch it early enough, just hose the old soil off the roots, cut any brown, damaged roots or stem material away, and replant in fresh mix in a pot. Obviously some leaves might need to be cut away to keep it from wilting since roots have been compromised. If roots are too far gone and the plant is large, I take a tip cutting and cut the cane into pieces to propagate, and I toss the very bottom part with the rot.

Thanks for this thread, I like talking about aglaonemas.

Hope this helps,

Russ

what confuses me is how many cultivars look so similar. could they all be 'fresh named' to avoid royalties?

for example - 'Stripes' - i see that it was developed by UFL.

this is russian site . it includes thai and indonesian varieties

but names are in English - so how does 'Stripes' differ from 'Manila Pride' or 'Marguerita', for example?

i think her pic of 'Diamond Bay' is incorrect - it's supposed to have plain green outer edge, but hers looks just like 'Silver Bay'.

about that Dieff - yer, i thought it was a Dieff, as i have never seen such an ag before. so i looked at stems and i am pretty sure in retrospect it is an ag :). but now i have doubts. i am familiar with both - i'd know dieff, i think...

the same russian site has smth similar, but not quite :

Ag 'Cory' x Ag brevispatum

it looks like A. 'Diamond' has a very well defined central vein, but this one

i found D. 'Star Bright' and 'Tropic Snow' - but they look different, not so spotty. If anything it's more like 'Mary' ? i have more pics of it..go look

does it look like A.'Brilliant' on top?

..but there's more. i just picked up what i thought was a very unusual Ag - and i can't find a pic match for it. But i found a match for a Dieff - 'Sparkles' it's very compact and free branching at the base so it looks very close to ag, at least as a seedling.

stems

and the other ag pics that i sprouted is in the thread about seeds, here .

Petrushka, I think the renaming of ags is fairly common these days, for whatever reason. Brilliant and White Lightning are obviously the same ag, and of course the royalty issue is also obvious.

Many ags have many names, B.J. Freeman is also called Cecelia and Gabrielle, Maria is also Emerald Beauty, but those are old timers and if there was a patent it has run out.

I have to admit that Margarita does look a lot like Stripes. I've not seen Margarita 'in person' and it's often hard to see differences in photographs. Never seen Manila Pride either, which was Dr Frank Brown's favorite ag according to Jervis in his 1980 book. The pics I've seen of Manila Pride haven't necessarily reminded me of Stripes, but I haven't seen a really good pic.

My laptop doesn't show the pics on the russian site, just boxes with red X's. I'll try on my desktop after I finish posting.

You're right about Diamond Bay, the edge between silver interior and the green border should be fairly separate. The silver is feathered into the green on Silver Bay, fairly distinctive difference.

There might be ags that resemble D. Sparkles but if there is, I haven't seen them. One way to tell a dieff from an ag is to cut a petiole or especially the stem, dieff's have a very distinctive smell. But if you bought your plant in a big-box store recently, and it looks like Sparkles, then it's very likely to be that plant. An ag that looks like it would be quite rare.

Dieff's Star Bright and Star White, both products of the Univ of Florida, are stunning plants. I also have a dieff that might be Paradise with beautiful variegation in yellows rather than cream or white.

I am a bit confused about D. Star Bright, the Univ of Fla patent description and pic indicates it's a yellowish color, but other websites and nurseries show pics just like mine and yours, very white with scattered small areas of green variegation.

Russ

i got some goodies (pix) from longwood - dieffs and ags side by side - very purr-rity! tomorrow!

Exciting Petrushka, looking forward to the pics.

Russ

ok, i went over the posts to try to clarify some differences.

So, A.Brilliant has yellow spots around central vein (and some times lots of them, but sometimes just a yellowish central vein?) and white stems.

While A. Stripes doesn't have any yellow, quite clearly defined stripes, especially from the distance and green stems?

the russiansite pics take a long time to load - first you see just an empty frame with ultra small pics - if you click within frame it'll throw a new window with full large pic.

otherwise you have to wait for all pics on the page to load - which might take a lo-ong time.

do you think this might be A. 'Debora'?

Petrushka, yes that looks like Deborah. Typical pattern and colors for it, white petioles. It is a tall grower.

Stripes has no other colors than green with silver striping. For a mostly green plant, it's surprisingly slow growing.

Brilliant is variable from leaf to leaf and sometimes plant to plant. Some leaves will be mostly silver with green, others are a mix of silver and green with yellow down the midrib, even others will be the latter with yellow spreading into the lateral veins. It's a good-sized grower too. It's one of the most colorful of the bigger ags, and one of my favs.

I might try the Russian site again, but last time I did I had some computer issues.

Russ

yah, it's good to have a strong virus blocker ;) ...i don't often look at them either.

but i did not have issues with that particular one.

you have a wealth of knowledge about all cultivars - that's very useful.

so in longwood i saw A. 'Osaka' that looked just like 'Diamond'.

here's a pic of it with Dieff 'Eli'.

Petrushka, the ags Osaka, Diamond, Best Diamond, Spring Snow and some other names all seem to be the same one. This is not a new hybrid by anyone, sellers have renamed a very old naturally occurring variety of A. costatum, probably v. semi-albovariegatum. More made-up names for the sake of marketing and confusing to the general public.

A. costatum albovariegatum with even more white variegation is very rare. There are pictures of each on page 131 in Dr. Frank Brown's book The Amazing Aglaonema.

I've seen the same plant on the internet labeled A. costatum f. foxii, but I think foxii is another form.

I sure like that Dieff Eli, if I could find it I'd buy it.

Russ

Beautiful Ags!

GreenLarry, too bad you're in England, we could help you out with lots of aglaonemas as well as philodendrons, dieffenbachias, etc. I wish I could suggest some sources 'over there' but don't know of any. I suppose the mailing time from here to there is about 10 days, a bit too long for tropicals but succulents and sansevierias would make it.

Russ

I dont really have space for any more plants anyway. I just like reading the posts about them

Russ and Green Larry, I have this aglaonema from Alberts and Merkel Bros purchased in the mid 1980's as aglaonema sp Silver Spot. I was hoping to trade for aglaonema sp Dr Holzer or aglaonema hyb Painted Princess. Silver Spot and Dr Holzer are part of the alumina complex. DR Holzer looks like a grey watercolor painting unlike any other aglaonema. I live in Orlando Fl.

Hu-, I have the hybrid Painted Princess and would be interested in your Silver Spot. This leaf is quite wide, is it typical of all leaves? I have a more narrow leaved plant with similar aluminum base color and lighter color underlaid in the same random pattern.

I have also been looking for Dr. Holzer as well as other vintage aglaonemas mentioned in Roy Jervis's 1980 Notebook. Do you have a list of your collection? I'll gladly share mine, always looking for a trade or purchase of any ag I don't have.

I'm just north of Orlando, I grew up in the Colonialtown area of Orlando in the 40s and early 50s... back when Orlando was a little country town.

Russ

bluesea14808@yahoo.com

Hu-, I isolated your pic out of your post and looks like your leaf is actually more narrow. So could be the same as my plant, but I'm still interested in obtaining yours for Painted Princess. If you have other AG's I don't have, I'm interested in trades.

Thanks, Russ

Hi Russ. I plan to be in Cocoa Beach, Winter Haven, and Ft Lauderdale soon. Unless they get too hot or stormy. These are like plant candy stores to me. Do you have maybe a 1 Aroid plant attraction at each place I can see that you could list? I'll be quite busy and may not have time for going into parks or gardens. Also, I can't message you on here no matter what I try. Do you have an email posted anywhere so I can contact you that way? I'll try to update this post with some Orlando and Cape Canaveral pics. Off the NASA Causeway I saw Sabal Palmettos growing in water which I've never seen before. Also saw the largest Pothos I've ever seen.

Hi Russ, back in the 80s I collected aroids and sansevieria and was friends with Dr Brown, Monroe Birdsey and other collectors. I had a shade cloth area and moved to Denver in 1998 and left most of my collection in the shade cloth area for the new owners. The aroids i took didn' do well in Denver and my sansevieria wouldn't grow. I started growing gasteria and haworthia. I moved back to Florida about 4 years ago and am renting a room with a 6x12 ft balcony and have started to collect aglaonema again. I only have 1 Bangkok Dream from eBay and Shades, Sterling and Emerald Bay from a local nursery. I have 1 variegated aloe vera for trade and will have gasteria batesiana dolomitica var "Inyoka" in the future. It' from Limpopo Africa. Inyoka is Zulu for snake. It' really heat tolerant and beautifull. My name is Bob and my email is crafts9@outlook.com. I was at Lucas nursery the other day and in the greenhouse they had a neon pothos that was variegated like golden pothos and philodendron Brazil with cream centers instead of chartreuse. I'm Denver I had a yellow variegated marble queen but haven't seen it here. Email me on how you would like to trade the ag Silver Spot. Thanks, Bob

There is a wide leaf splotched alumina called Mutton Fat Jade you can see it in Thai collections if you do a search for aglaonema Mutton Fat Jade.

Russ, i didnt notice you sent your email i will email you tommorrow. Thanks, Bob.

Jay, I am very familiar with Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, can't help with Winter Garden or Lauderdale. Aroid nurseries these days are rare, the Ace Hardware stores in downtown CB and on SR 3 in Merritt Island might be worth a quick look. Nursery areas are small but packed with plants, found some colorful Thai ags and a few odd philos at CB store, MI store has a wide variety of plants.

Sabal palmettos and sabal palms don't normally grow in water but there are lots of areas that are under water seasonally with summer rains, then dry in winter and spring months.

I'm in Lake Mary/Sanford area but am in Cocoa Beach once a week or so on business. I have a lot of extra aroids and other plants, email me.

bluesea14808@yahoo.com

Russ

Bob, Mutton-Fat-Jade has been on my "must have" list for decades. I will check out Thai sources but am cautious in ordering because of distance and expense.

I knew the great Dr Frank Brown and have quite a few ags from him. My brother Roger lives in south Fla and knew Monroe Birdsey, unfortunately I never met him.

Guess I need to get to Lukas Nursery and get one of the variegated Neons.

My main interest are aglaonemas and philos, but have most other aroids except tuberous. I have leftovers from an old succulent collection and a very large but bedraggled sansevieria collection, 100+ different species, varieties and hybrids.

Russ

Bob - about 10 yrs ago I saw a large group of Sansevierias but I don't recall if they were at Daytona or Cocoa Beach. There were so many that they looked like a partial field of grass. Before that I'd never seen so many houseplants in the wild.

Russ - I sent you an e-mail. Pardon me if I should have put these on another thread but I have a Xanthosoma pic from near the Orlando airport rental shuttle pickup area and an Epipremnum aureum at the Kennedy Spc Ctr Museum staff buildings. The possible Xanthosomas are the tallest Elephant Ears I've ever seen. They are also the only Xanthosomas I've seen. They appeared to be over 7ft tall with satiny, not shiny leaves. The leaves have the same color and texture as the more common Colocasia Esculentas but they are more triangular and mostly upright. The Epipremnum aureum has approx 18" long leaves, not including the stems.

This supposed Epipremnum looks more like a Monstera to me based on how it is variegated. But it is behind a fence and I had no binoculars to get a better look. Arrows point to the highest leaf sets:

Here's a cropped version that the shows the center leaves better:

that's definitely an Epi not a monstera. that's how they grow in So-East FL everywhere, up the live oaks and palms and anything else that can give them dappled sunlight.

i don't know of any nurseries in Ft.Lauderdale

but in West Palm Beach you might want to visit

excelsa gardens

and in Delray Beach Grays and Gardino

Jay, one place I want to visit is exotica tropicals in Melbourne Beach only open by appointment. They have a website exoticatropicals.com. They always have alot of nice rare aroids on ebay. I always look at large clumps of sansevieria for sports and mutations. Once in a nursery I found a green philodendron selloum with a little 3" yellow splashed offset. It grew into a real beautifull plant.