Aquatic (&/or edible) geophytes
Mary Sue Ittner (Sat, 28 Jan 2006 14:23:32 PST)

Dear Lee,

We saw Aponogeton in South Africa. It is interesting to read that you got
it to grow in a freshwater aquarium. I was fascinated by it. It is
apparently both edible and aquatic. If you have pictures of it and want to
add them, I'd have no objection.

As you know, this wiki administrator is more inclusive than exclusive. If
someone can make a case for our including a plant in the wiki because it is
a bulb, corm, rhizome, tuber, has tuberous roots when it is growing, etc.,
we'd allow it. We have a number of things on the wiki that some people
probably wish weren't there because they are a bit of a stretch, but it
seems to me as long as this is included in the text, it really doesn't hurt
and could be providing information to people who might be interested. There
are genera that were once considered to be in the Liliaceae family and may
have since been moved to something else that come to mind. Plants like
Maianthemum and Disporum. Some of them die back to their rootstocks and are
dormant part of the year. But do their rootstocks qualify? Maybe not, but
it someone wanted to add them, I wouldn't object. I think some people might
think they'd be better classified as perennials, but would it hurt to have
them on the wiki? I don't think so.

We already have a few plants pictured on the wiki that are sometimes
aquatic when in growth.

I often look at my Marantha (Prayer Plant) and wonder if it could be
included. I've read somewhere it was tuberous, but I've never unpotted it
to look. I've had this plant for a very long time in one of my bathrooms
and usually I cut it all the way back in winter and then it shoots out
again which it is doing now and then it flowers in spring. I'm not even
sure what species it is since it was gift.

What ends on up the wiki is probably most a function of what appeals to the
people who add to it.

Mary Sue