Aroids and other genera in the Collection
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The
Exotic Rainforest
The
Exotic Rainforest is a private botanical garden. We do not sell
plants!
If you are trying to buy the Thailand Parrot
Flower Read this link!
We do not sell this or any
other plant!!!!
The Parrot Flower is not in The Exotic
Rainforest collection!
Go to any major library and look in a scientific journal
titled The Plants of India, Volume 4 and you'll find it!
This rare specimen
IS NOT a hoax and is not for sale.
Impatiens
psittacina
Hook.f.
Known on the Internet as
Known on the Internet as
The Thailand Parrot Flower
The search for the rare Parrot Flower from Thailand, Myanmar (formerly Burma)
and portions of east India
This is how the e-mail story of one of Nature's Rarest plants was tracked down
and includes the original 1901 botanical documents.
Impatiens
psittacina
Hook.f.
Known on the Internet as
Known on the Internet as
The rare Thailand Parrot Flower
Known to the people of Thailand as "Dork Nok Khaew"
Known to the people of Thailand as "Dork Nok Khaew"
Sometimes incorrectly spelled Impatiens psitticana, Impatiens psitticina, Impatiens psitticine
After you read this article, if you are still in
doubt as to the validity of this species, read Ray Morgan's magazine article:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F.../impatiens.pdf
http://www.rhs.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F.../impatiens.pdf
This is the story of how we tracked down the scientific facts regarding Impatiens psittacina.
The majority of the photos were provided by the Thai tour company Tourdoi.
In late April of 2006 I received an email from my
friend Robert Black with 5 photos attached. Those photos were entitled
the "Rare Thailand Parrot Flower" and I suspect many now reading
this article also received a similar email. That email is currently on its
third or fourth trip around the world since it began circulating in early 2006. When the photos of
the Parrot
Flower from Thailand first appeared on the internet I received
copy after copy since this
website features rare plants and most people wanted to
purchase this plant!
Sorry, we do not sell plants I simply collect rare plants. Since I'm an
avid
collector
and plant researcher I began immediately seeking scientific information
on
the plant but hit dead end after dead end.
Some folks who have written
about this species wrongly claimed
the flower was an orchid but I knew that to be incorrect since
orchids all have three petals and three sepals. The plant shown in
the photos was obviously
something else, but what? The search was filled with
barricades since the supposed
scientific name many were trying to use on the internet was incorrectly spelled. The name circulating on some
plant discussion sites was "Impatiens psitticana" and others were
spelling it "Impatiens psitticina" and other incorrect spellings
were also in use. As a
result, those incorrect spellings did not appear on any scientific
research website but the name Impatiens psittacina can be found in
numerous scientific
source books.
I
began in approximately March, 2006 to send emails to the government of Thailand and
as a result was directed to
the Plants of Thailand Research Unit. At first they stated
emphatically they had never
heard of such a plant but finally after numerous requests was told it was a rare
species from
northern Thailand and Thai law made it illegal to own, collect, or export
plants or seeds of the species. No other information was provided.
From
there I began to contact plant nurseries in Thailand for any
information and received a similar response. A friend who has contacts
in Thailand asked one of his associates to check on the plant species
but received only similar replies. A few Thai growers were obviously unhappy with
my request for information having apparently been flooded with requests
from the United States and Europe asking to the plant. It appeared any information from Thailand
would not be easy to locate.
I then began trying to locate rare impatiens
collectors in the United States and Europe and did manage to find several
but none had ever seen the plant shown in the email photos!
Many who had received the photos thought the entire story
was nothing more than a hoax. Finally, I received an email from an individual associated with
a major seed supplier in the eastern United States. That individual was certain the
entire story was
a hoax and encouraged me to drop my search since he appeared to feel I was just wasting
my time. He also appeared to believe all the photos in the email were
created on a home computer and could not be real.
Since I am a retired commercial
photographer I am trained in the use of PhotoShop and have used the
program
professionally for many years.
At one time I was a part owner of a company that created photography and computer graphics for large hotels,
government tourist agencies, clothing manufacturers, cruise lines and others.
My graphic artists had created together
more than one "impossible" image by combining numerous photographs
in to create a
single photo story. Composite photos are "faked" all the time and
I would venture many now reading this have seen the "National
Geographic Photo of the Year" of
a great white shark jumping out of the water attacking a helicopter.
That photo is a
fake and the National Geographic website openly disputes the photo was
taken by one of their photographers.
But the photos of the rare Thailand Parrot Flower did not appear to be composite images so I began to closely examine them for traces of
the signs that often accompany a PhotoShop retouched
photographs. None of those signs could be seen other than the edges of
the photos were "feathered" which is frequently done in
PhotoShop. At the very least the
creator of the Parrot Flower images was familiar with photo retouching.
But was it possible these were composite images created on a home computer?
I
then ran across a mention of
a flower common to Canada known to science as
Impatiens glandulifera. Some on the University of British Colombia
(UBC) plant
discussion site as well as two Canadian discussion sites felt the "rare parrot flower" was actually
Impatiens glandulifera which is an
invasive species common in Canada and some states in the United
States. That flower actually looked a great deal like the "tail
feathers" of the "Rare Thailand Parrot Flower" but bore
no other resemblance. But it did make me suspicious. Perhaps some very talented PhotoShop "genius" had actually created
the parrot flower by combining several flower photographs including
Impatiens glandulifera.
Then, when I finally found the correct
spelling, Impatiens psittacina on the International Plant Names Index
which is a service of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London the
information on that site indicated Impatiens psittacina was from India
and not Thailand! That apparent discrepancy really made me suspicious. If
Impatiens psittacina was real could someone have used the
scientific name to forge an
imposter that looked like a parrot? It
was beginning to appear someone may have done exactly that and simply dreamed up the "Rare Thailand Parrot
Flower"!
I then tried without success to find
a botanically certified photo of
Impatiens psittacina. I contacted the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England and several gardens in India. None
had the photo on file, or if they did, were not willing to share it with
a plant collector! At least for a short while I began to believe the entire story could possibly be a hoax! The more I researched
Impatiens psittacina the
more I began to believe this "plant" could simply be a fake. I became so deluded with
the idea the photos were computer generated I actually posted a note on one garden
sites saying I was "certain" it was a fake! I then went so far as to
create my own "Parrot Flower" using PhotoShop with Impatiens
glandulifera as the base. That post is still on the
internet today, but there was
still a
doubt in my mind. There were at least 5 photographs on the internet
taken from 5 different angles.
Someone would have had to spend days if not weeks creating all those
angles and still make them all look real! That would take both
talent and a lot of time. Creating quality composites is an
art not something anyone with an extra $1000 to spend on a copy of
PhotoShop can easily accomplish.
Finally I began to receive emails from
rare plant and aroid expert Julius Boos in
Florida. Julius knows his plants, especially aroids. Since
Julius first began to write we have become best of friends and I have
been fortunate to spend time with him in Florida. We have exchanged
hundreds, perhaps thousands of emails regarding aroids (a specialized group of plants) I
often research for the Exotic Rainforest
website.
Julius was convinced the "Rare Thailand Parrot Flower" existed,
and for
good reason. He had seen it! At the time I trusted Julius' instincts but I was still
skeptical but Julius is a much better researcher than I have
ever been and his knowledge of rare plant species is almost beyond
belief. I had already been trying for months to find the scientific text
where the plant was first described botanically without success. but within days Julius
emailed a copy! To my amazement even the original botanist described
Impatiens psittacina as
looking like a parrot-like bird and described it in his scientific text as a "cockatoo suspended by a string
from its shoulders". The Rare Thailand Parrot Flower does in
fact exist!
Impatiens psittacina is a scientifically described species from several small geographic
regions in Asia including northern Thailand,
Myanmar (formerly Burma) and one neighboring state in India. Some
internet sources claim Impatiens psittacina is found in Vietnam, the Himalayas and neighboring countries but that cannot be confirmed
in science. The
Thai's have a name for Impatiens psittacina and call it "Dork Nok Khaew"
which is literally translated
as "parrot bird flower" (Dork or Dok = flower,
Nok = bird, and Khaew = green or the word for parrot. However, this clarification came in
June 2008 from Steve Myers who resides in Thailand,
"I am fluent in Thai (read and write as well), so I thought I would
try to clear up a small inaccuracy in your translation of the Thai name.
On your webpage you write "Literally translated that says: Dork or Dok =
flower, Nok = bird, and Khaew = green or the word for parrot. So the
translation would be Flower Bird Parrot."
He continues,
"The Thai word "khaew" used in the name of the flower means
either
glass or crystal or a similar substance or it means something precious.
The Thai word for green is usually transliterated as "kieow".
(It's probably a little hard to know from looking those spellings, but
the words sound - and are written - completely different in Thai.)
I suppose you could break "nok khaew" apart into Bird Precious or Bird
Crystal or something like that, but Thai generally doesn't work like
that. Almost all the names of birds in Thai include "nok" -
the general word for bird - and one or two other words that complete the
name of the bird. The bird cannot be referred to by a shorter
verion without the word "nok". So, the Thai for parrot is simply an
indivisible "nok khaew".
Steve also indicated he and his spouse would be searching for Impatiens
psittacina in Doi Chiang Dao, a national forest area between their
home
and Chiang Mai.
either
glass or crystal or a similar substance or it means something precious.
The Thai word for green is usually transliterated as "kieow".
(It's probably a little hard to know from looking those spellings, but
the words sound - and are written - completely different in Thai.)
I suppose you could break "nok khaew" apart into Bird Precious or Bird
Crystal or something like that, but Thai generally doesn't work like
that. Almost all the names of birds in Thai include "nok" -
the general word for bird - and one or two other words that complete the
name of the bird. The bird cannot be referred to by a shorter
verion without the word "nok". So, the Thai for parrot is simply an
indivisible "nok khaew".
Steve also indicated he and his spouse would be searching for Impatiens
psittacina in Doi Chiang Dao, a national forest area between their
home
and Chiang Mai.
Julius'
research had
located several people who had visited Thailand, met with the
photographer who posted the now
famous internet photographs
and knew a great deal about the rare Impatiens species.
Julius had also tracked down an
Impatiens expert in the United Kingdom,
Ray Morgan, who was
able to furnish the sought after original botanical publication
containing the description, a drawing of
Impatiens psittacina, and other
helpful information.
There is a link at the top of this page to an article by Ray which
includes information on Impatiens psittacina.
The plant was originally published in 1901 in the Curtis Botanical
Journal Magazine, Tab 7809.
The plant was credited as having been discovered in
the Shan States of Upper Burma in 1899 by a British officer named A.H. Hildebrand
who was working on a new boundary agreement between Thailand and Burma,
then known as Siam. In that publication botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker
described the species as resembling a "cockatoo suspended by a string
from its shoulders". (You can read Hooker's entire published description
below).
Hooker lived from 1817-1911 and is the
botanist of record who gave this species its name. The Latin name Hooker
chose, "psittacina", fittingly means "parrot like". Hooker examined
specimens grown at the Royal Botanical Garden Kew in Britain but did his
original work on the plant in India. It is
however unclear
whether Hooker drew his work from a live specimen or preserved
flowers. Hooker mentions in his description plants seen
at the Kew in London were grown from wild collected seed furnished by A.H. Hildebrand. The plants in England did not produce
seed, possibly due to the lack of natural pollinators or by a lack of
understanding at the time as to how Impatiens species can be
artificially pollinated. Although
unknown for certain, the seed
is likely to have a long viability since in 1901 mail was
done only by boat, foot and horse. However, some
Impatiens experts today appear to doubt the species has a long
viability.
Few people realize that nature has a
unique method of pollinating species while keeping a strain pure, and pollination is required to produce seeds. Almost all plants
produce a unique pheromone. A pheromone is similar to a perfume
designed to attract a particular insect or animal to do the work of
pollination. In most cases, that pheromone smells to the male
of an insect species like a female ready to mate! That
is why there are very few orchid hybrids found in the wild! The
male is drawn only to a single species and won't land on any other.
If you don't have the correct pollinator, you don't get seeds!
While considering the possible
pollinators for this species, Invertebrate Ecologist/Taxonomist D.
Christopher Rogers, who studies insects, made this observation,
"looking at the plant,
and the position of the anthers (arcing over the flower aperture) and
the position of the nectar tube (high and down curled), I would guess
that a bird or a bat pollinates the plant. It is possible a moth or
butterfly with a very long “tongue” does the job, or maybe a wasp, but
the size of the flower leads me towards a vertebrate. That being said
the next thing to consider is the form and coloration of the flower. It
could be a wasp that would come upon a bird in to capture
parasitic flies or heteropterans with which to provision its eggs."
Julius Boos tends to believe the
pollinator is more likely to be a
"large hairy bumble-bee.... with large, wide and hairy heads and bodies,
seemingly perfect to collect and distribute pollen."
Julius believes that insect
"would have tongues more
than long enough to reach the pollen source."
He continued,
"The flower also appears to
possess and provides a basal 'petal' as a 'landing platform' for a bee
to land and hold on to while feeding!"
Although both Christopher
and Julius are
obviously forced to speculate, due to the lack of documented
information, it appears regardless of which of these vertebrate, or
invertebrate, species does the natural job in nature it is highly
unlikely we have that specific pollinator in North America. As a
result, this impatiens species is not easily caused to reproduce in
captive growth.
Julius also managed to find information about the
Thai grower who posted the now famous photographs on the internet
(all with text in the Thai language). A Thai native, he is also an
experienced photographer and plant grower. The flower, which resembles a
multi-colored flying parrot has an overall "blue" flower with reds and
other accent colors. Sources that preferred to remain unnamed
described the flower to another rare impatiens grower as "somewhat
difficult" to cultivate. The Thai gentleman also described the
Parrot Flower as possibly not being tuberous. The flower is said
by the Thai source to be seen in the wild in several color combinations
and tuberous plants were not seen in the "blue" colored flower but
mainly in the pink and yellow. Even those were reported to be
"tricky to grow" in spite of having tubers.
MORE INFO ON PAGE 2
According to an informed source in Thailand, the plant needs moist humid rain forest conditions. Far wetter than can be found in the majority of North America. An extremely knowledgeable source who is familiar with the plant has recently provided information the plant is known to grow in limestone soil with a pH that is higher than normal. That is likely the explanation for the "blue" coloration due to a botanical phenomenon known as "anthocyanins" (a condition where water soluble pigments appear red to blue) depending on the soil pH. The plant is apparently truly rare in nature and is not the "invasive vine" some on the internet who are not truly familiar with the species have speculated. As for the now famous Thailand Parrot Flower photos, those were taken by the Thai grower of a plant collected in 2001 near Chiang Mai, N. Thailand. But like many flower species, this impatiens has a limited blooming season. The blooming season for Impatiens psittacina in Thailand is October and November and this impatiens grows tall!
Impatiens psittacina Facts:
Size: Plant grows to app. 6 feet (1.8)
meters
Leaf : Broad, sharply pointed, to 2 1/2 inches (6
cm)
Flower size: App. 2 inches (5cm)
Stem thickness: To 1/2 inch (1.5cm)
Bloom season: October/November in Thailand
Flower size: App. 2 inches (5cm)
Stem thickness: To 1/2 inch (1.5cm)
Bloom season: October/November in Thailand
Growing conditions: Tropical, humid, moist
MORE INFO ON PAGE 2
In his scientific description (bottom of this page) Hooker describes the species as being substantially less than one meter tall. That is likely due to the fact he never actually saw the plant in the wild and based his writings on the observations of an untrained individual, Mr. Hildebrand. Unlike the Impatiens you grow in your yard, according to the cover a Thai garden magazine (see info right), this plant grows to almost 6 feet tall (1.8 meters)! The species has a thick 1/2 inch (1.5cm) stem but normal 2 1/2 inch (6cm) leaves. We have no accurate dimensions on the bloom but a photo comparison of the flower to a leaf indicates the flower would be approximately 2 inches (5cm). Hooker's description (below) differs slightly from that when he states the plant is 1.5 to 2 feet tall (less than 60cm). Hooker admits he never actually saw the species in the wild and was basing his description partially on second hand information provided by a non-scientist.
This
rare plant is not the attractive
small Impatiens plant normally sold for landscaping. This
Impatiens is tall
like a bad weed and apparently will not
survive without moist, humid, tropical, rain forest conditions. The flower is
beautiful but even if you could keep it alive is not suited for the
average front yard garden unless you like weeds, high humidity, and lots
of rain! You likely would
not like the plant if you found one!
(See more photos on page 2.)
So why do so many people
believe this rare Impatiens species does not exist? It
appears even those who are otherwise knowledgeable about
Impatiens don't know very much about the very rare
species
in the genus. I recently ran across a very nice
website that sells and specializes in Impatiens.
On it, I found this quote:
"To begin with, there are
approximately 36 species of impatiens in the world".
I make no claim to be an Impatiens expert,
but based on my limited research just trying to locate
Impatiens psittacina, I knew that statement could
not be correct! A check of the International Plant
Names Index (Royal Botanic Garden, Kew in London) done
in April, 2008 reveals there are more than 1.300
Impatiens species in their records!
http://mrimpatiens.com/1389_records_found%20of%20impatiens%20sp.htm Many quite rare!
Even more important, if the species does not truly exist, someone needs to explain that to the scientists who compiled the scientific text Flora of India Volume 4 as well as the people of Thailand who have seen it, photographed it, and furnished all the photos on this and the following pages. The species has been well documented in both instances. The information in the box above came from the cover of a Thai gardening magazine! Still, I regularly receive email saying "I don't believe it".
There is a fellow in Canada who was spreading the word I personally "pasted" the photos of a "fake" flower into Hooker's botanical drawings. There are several individuals in Canada who post on a variety of sites that claim this species is not rare, can be bought at dozens of websites, and grows all over Canada! But not one link telling you where to go one has ever been posted! Not one!
I've also received complaints the drawings are not a
"perfect match" to
the photographs. Linnaean nomenclature, the system in use at the
time Hooker wrote his description, was far from perfect. It permitted many species to be
described
only from preserved or cultivated specimens. There is a possibility,
even though Hooker saw the plant in a botanical garden in India, these were drawn more than 100 years ago from
dried specimens. It is also highly likely the inks have faded so
the colors no longer match. But if you look closely the correct colors
and details are still there!
Until recently, I had been led to
believe by plant collectors in India the species did not occur in that
country.
Dr. John H. Wiersema, Ph.D., Curator of GRIN Taxonomy, (a part of the
USDA) recently furnished this information to verify in fact the species
can be found in only one portion of India near the border with
Myanmar (formerly Burma), In an email he said,
"Our data comes
from volume 4 of the Flora of India (P. K. Hajra et al. 1997), which
indicates the species to occur in the state of Manipur in Northeast
India, as our data also indicate. The state of Manipur bs northern
Myanmar, where the plant is acknowledged by you to be native. This is
some 400-500 miles removed from Calcutta, which has no importance in
this context anyway, since Hooker never indicated the plant to be found
there, but stated simply "I found no specimen at all resembling it in
the Kew Herbarium, or in that of the Herbarium of the Royal Gardens,
Calcutta". Hooker had collected in India (with Thomas Thomson)
back in 1847-1851, but when he described I. psittacina he was already
approaching 85 years of age, and is unlikely to have been to India in
the few years previous after the introduction to Kew in 1899 of this
species. His comment is in reference to the Herbarium of the Botanical
Garden in Calcutta, from which he had the Impatiens specimens on loan
for study and verification, not the Botanical Garden itself. In any
case, there were no specimens of this species among this loaned
material. To sum up, it is perfectly reasonable that the Flora of
India is correct in indicating that this species occurs in Manipur state."
Like most Impatiens the plant is variable. Variations within plant species are quite common! Not all leaves and flowers of the same species are exactly alike. I can show you plants in my atrium where different specimens of the same species don't look exactly alike and have a variety of coloration and growth forms. Botanists and "plant nuts" disagree about those factors all the time which is one reason why so many plants have multiple scientific names, most of them now synonyms (same plant, other name)! Please note the Thai grower (who has a botanical background) stated there are color variations within this species in nature.
Like most Impatiens the plant is variable. Variations within plant species are quite common! Not all leaves and flowers of the same species are exactly alike. I can show you plants in my atrium where different specimens of the same species don't look exactly alike and have a variety of coloration and growth forms. Botanists and "plant nuts" disagree about those factors all the time which is one reason why so many plants have multiple scientific names, most of them now synonyms (same plant, other name)! Please note the Thai grower (who has a botanical background) stated there are color variations within this species in nature.
This link offers a more complete explanation of natural variation within
species.
Click here.
In September, 2007 I met a Thai family who owns a plant
nursery in Bangkok at the International Aroid Show in Miami, FL and
simply by chance asked if they were familiar with Impatiens
psittacina.
Instantly, the entire family said "yes"! Tthey then confirmed
the flower was not only common in the "blue" form seen in the photos but
also in a pink and yellow version. They were also amused that
people in North America believe the flower is a hoax. But if you
are still a doubter, look closely at the photos and the drawing below.
The curved "beak", which is the backwards pointing nectar tube
at the back of the corolla, and "string from the shoulders" are there, just the way Hooker drew
and described them over 100
years ago! If created in PhotoShop the person who supposedly fantasized them was
not only lucky but also a botanical expert and creative genius.
I've also been accused of
fabricating parts of this story because I don't name all my sources.
I agreed to withhold identities and will do so until given
permission to reveal names. Think about it, if you had this
very rare Impatiens in your greenhouse (a very few collectors do) would you want a lot of people climbing
over your fence to steal it? I receive email all the time from growers of rare
species complaining how many of their plants are regularly stolen by
"plant thieves". Seed sellers would pay top dollar for this rare plant
so they could attempt to artificially pollinate it or clone the species!
If you didn't know, plant
cloning is done every day, just ask your local nursery. It is called "tissue culture".
One last fact to ponder: If
someone told you there was a 20 foot tall (6 meter plus) rare plant with a 6 foot
(2 meter) group of flowers known to science as an inflorescence that
stunk
so bad it smelled like a rotting corpse would you doubt it existed?
Or if someone told you there was a plant with no stem, no leaves, no
roots
and a single flower 3 feet wide (1 meter) that can weigh 24 pounds (over 11 kilos) that
also looks and smells like dead meat would you doubt
that? Many
did! Both exist!
The first is known scientifically as Amorphophallus titanum, the "Corpse Flower".
Most
large
botanical institutions now have one as a major exhibit when it blooms. At
Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami it is known as "Mr. Stinky". Thousands
of visitors stand in long lines to see one in bloom! The second is also
known by the common name of "Corpse Flower" and is known scientifically
as Rafflesia arnoldii. So far no institution has learned how to
grow one in a collection. That plant is actually a parasite and grows inside a vine.
It is only visible when it blooms!
Growing in the rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo, the only place in the
world where it can be found, R. arnoldii has no leaves and grows
inside a vine which is a relative of the grape and is scientifically a
Tetrastigma species. Unless you saw evidence of an old
blossom, you could walk right past the host vine and never know the
world's largest flower lived inside. Both species are rare,
just like Impatiens psittacina. But just because you can't
buy one easily doesn't
mean the plant is a hoax. The world of plants can truly be bizarre.
inside a vine which is a relative of the grape and is scientifically a
Tetrastigma species. Unless you saw evidence of an old
blossom, you could walk right past the host vine and never know the
world's largest flower lived inside. Both species are rare,
just like Impatiens psittacina. But just because you can't
buy one easily doesn't
mean the plant is a hoax. The world of plants can truly be bizarre.
An interesting side note. The friend from
South Carolina who originally sent the photos called in early
2007 to say he and his wife had been to
dinner the night before at a local Thai restaurant. He asked the
waitress if she had ever seen the Thailand Parrot Flower and was
politely told, No. But within minutes the young lady brought
another Thai woman to the table who excitedly said, "Yes, from Chiang Mai".
Just like the Thai family I met in Miami, she then went on to describe the flower unprompted and used her hands
to describe how the flower had the "beak" of a parrot and was connected
to the plant like it had a string from the shoulders. She knew the
flower well as do many people from northern Thailand!
Enjoy Thai
food? Try it yourself. Ask your server if they
have ever seen
"Dork Nok Khaew" near Chiang Mai, North Thailand. You may just be
surprised!
The original botanical
published work
as well as some of the Thai collector's photos (see page 2) are included for you to enjoy. We do not have the plant and we cannot tell you where to
purchase cuttings, starts
or seeds.
The
very rare plant is not available. Due to the tropical
requirements and reported difficulty
in
maintaining the species it is very unlikely it will ever be a common plant at
any nursery! No botanical garden we can locate has one on display
other than the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
For those who want to compare
the drawing to the photo I've positioned the "parrot" from the upper right
of the drawing beside the "parrot" from the upper left of the photo.
Judge for yourself. As for me, I believe! It's simply a scientific
fact.
If you are seeking information on other rare species, click on "Aroids and other genera in the Collection" at the top and look for the
If you are seeking information on other rare species, click on "Aroids and other genera in the Collection" at the top and look for the
Want to see more photos?
This link will lead you to new photos and information regarding
a tour to see the plant in Thailand!
This link will lead you to new photos and information regarding
a tour to see the plant in Thailand!
Botanist Joseph
Dalton Hooker's
Original 1901 Description and Drawing
The botanical information
regarding Hooker's description (when and where published) can be verified
via the
International Plant Names Index http://www.ipni.org/index.html
Continue the Story!
This link will lead you to new photos not
in the email,
how to see it in nature and even a planting guide!
(if you can find one!)
Despite the fact I say several times on this
website I don't have the species, some folks appear to enjoy sending email
asking us to sell them a Parrot Flower plant. Sorry, we do not have this plant.
I gladly try to answer questions but email asking to buy
Impatiens psittacina will simply be ignored.