Amorphophallus and other Aroids on eBay

Caveat emptor

Buying Amorphophallus and similar plants on eBay can be a slightly
risky business, I often see people getting conned into bidding on a
single seed with a phenomenal starting price, sometimes even when other
seed of the same species is available for much less! This guide sets
out to arm you with a little extra knowledge of the genus.

The following Amorphophallus species can probably be purchased with a certain amount of confidence on eBay:


konjac
bulbifer
paeoniifolius


konjac and bulbifer are probably the two most commonly grown species in
the UK, paeoniifolius is less commonly grown but often imported.
Because of this the tubers don't generally command a high price, unless
unusually large, and are quite regularly available between autumn and
the beginning of summer. Watch out for claims of "Flowering Size" tubers, some species flower when small but Konjac, for instance, will likely have a hefty postage cost for a genuine flowering size tuber as they're often in excess of 5 inches across at this stage.

When buying other species do be a little more cautious, if the listing
has a picture of the tuber in question you may be able to look up the
species at http://www.aroid.org/genera/amorphophallus/amlist.html ,
just incase the tuber differs considerably from the one shown on the
IAS site.

Amorphophallus Seeds

Growing Amorphophallus from seed, if you have the patience, is
an excellent way to discover less well known species. Unfortunately
Amorphophallus seeds lack an endosperm layer and the seed coats are
rather thin, these two factors cause problems when trying to store the
seed by conventional means, unless kept moist and/or refrigerated,
Amorphophallus seed can easily desiccate and once dry cannot be
successfully rehydrated.

The image below, unfortunately scaled down by ebay, shows seeds of A.
kiusianus side by side, the first 3 have been kept carefully and are
just beginning to sprout, the other batch have been at room temperature
in a grease-proof paper bag. Unfortunately a lot of seed sellers on
ebay are probably unaware of the storage requirements for
amorphophallus seed and may inadvertently sell seeds which have long
since ceased to be viable.




Recommended sellers for amorphophallus



Kaizwt1 - Nice Amorphophallus titanum seeds at very reasonable prices
Arum192