AMORPHOPHALLUS 'MEISTER ECKARDT'

PARENTAGE:

Amorphophallus albus × Amorphophallus konjac 'Nightstick'

ORIGIN:

Bred by Cyrille Claudel from Amorphophallus albus (female) and Amorphophallus konjac 'Nightstick', selected for beauty and growing properties and named by Claudel; introduced by Plant Delights Nursery and Juniper Level Botanic Garden in 2024.

HYBRIDIZER:

Cyrille Claudel

DESCRIPTION:

The spathe is a distinctive copper color, set off by a uniformly colored petiole and peduncle that emerge green, with the petiole darkening slightly toward black and the peduncle slightly toward red as they mature.¹ The petiole is shorter than the width of the leaf.¹ The tubers are nearly round, seldom more than 15 cm across or 1200 g, and form many offsets, mostly rhizomatous like those of Amorphophallus albus and a few small and round like those of Amorphophallus konjac.¹ Plant Delights describes a compact plant with green 30" stalks flushed purple at the base, a leaf umbrella 22" wide, and a 12" inflorescence in late May with a dark purple spadix 2" wide.²

NOTES:

1. The registry reports up to 40 offsets per growing season, while Plant Delights calls the clone slowly offsetting.¹,²

2. Plant Delights gives the cross as Amorphophallus konjac x albus and names no konjac cultivar, whereas the registry names Amorphophallus albus as the female parent and Amorphophallus konjac 'Nightstick' as the male parent; the direction is therefore uncertain.¹,²

3. Plant Delights sells it as Amorphophallus x konbus 'Meister Eckardt'; the x-name is a nursery label.²

4. One of the named seedlings of Amorphophallus albus × Amorphophallus konjac.¹ Other named hybrids from the same two species: 'Mary Sizemore', 'Green Genes', 'Glow Light', 'Alan's Legacy'. See every recorded cross of these two parents.

STORY:

STORY TITLE: Named for Frank Eckardt and a German philosopher

Claudel chose the name to honor Frank Eckardt and as an allusion to Meister Eckhart, a German philosopher.¹

REFERENCES:

1. International Aroid Society Aroid Cultivar Registry: Amorphophallus 'Meister Eckardt'

2. Plant Delights Nursery: Amorphophallus konbus Meister Eckardt

Photographs submitted to the IAS Aroid Cultivar Registry by the originator

Photos by Plant Delights Nursery