Aquatic (&/or edible) geophytes
Lee Poulsen (Fri, 27 Jan 2006 17:05:19 PST)

Conroe Joe's post got me remembering back when I had a fairly large
freshwater aquarium and I tried to plant it with a lush landscape of
underwater plants, that there were some I liked that were bulbs (or
corm or something) which I planted and they grew some nicely leaved
plants. I think a few times I even got lucky and they sent a small
scape to the top of the aquarium where they opened a small flower just
above the surface of the water. I think they were called Aponogeton of
some species or another. Joe's post made me wonder if we should try to
add photos of the various underwater geophytes to the wiki, or discuss
them on the list, since I think they are On Topic. I know it has
already been agreed that water lilies and lotuses are full-fledged
geophytes. I also wondered how many geophytes are solely or mainly
underwater plants and what the genera and species are.

A little while later, as I was looking through the vegetable seed
catalogs trying to decide what to grow this year, I realized that there
were a number of food geophytes (like potatoes and Jerusalem
artichokes, as well as some of the Andean tubers and rhizomes) that
would also be On Topic. Again I wondered if photos of these ought not
be added to the wiki as well. As far as discussion, I know that some
have been mentioned from time to time like sweet potatoes and bananas.
It seems that some bananas which form corms are grown purely for
ornamentation, for their flowers and/or their foliage. So they would
definitely seem fair game for the wiki. Does anyone have full listing
of all edible/food geophyte genera and species as well as the aquatic
ones?

And let's not leave out those that belong in both these camps like
water chestnuts...
;-)

Just trying to get a little affirmative action for the
not-as-often-thought-of geophytes,
--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a