Ah Dave, I get it. Same thing as the Cherimoya...
ID anybody?
Sure Carol! In those pea type flowers the stigma is located right behind the stamen and anther. A thin piece of grass or other small implement is needed to push the pollen onto the stigma, just as an insect might do while stumbling their way into the flower.
I've helped pollinate jade vines at a friends house in Wa'a Wa'a, it's very easy and they produce large seed pods.
Hey Jen, fertilizing the Hippeastrums is much less complicated than the Cherimoya. But then you don't get a Cherimoya off a Hippeastrum!
Aloha, Dave
LOL!
OH thanks Dave...maybe you can come over a show me? I am soon to get another racime!!! have you ever gotten seeds on the RedJade...Mucuna?
OK! I have several flowers crossed; there were a couple seed capsules on the plants, but they were empty. This shows that the plants need some help to fertilize the flowers. Now cross fingers and wait. I'll repeat the process through the flowering season till it is successful.
Yes Carol, be glad to help! The Mucuna will be fertilized the same as Strongylodon, though I've never tried them.
I have Strongolodons blooming now...not a lot but some...
Today I found several capsules hanging on to the flowering spikes.
I am seeing that the young flower produces both the stigma and anther at the same time, but the stigma will not easily hold pollen, even from another flower. This is happening while the young anther is producing lots of pollen.
When the anther is done making pollen, then the stigma opens up and the entire pistil gets sticky and pollen clings easily.
I have not seen many bugs hanging around the flowers, so helping with pollination is sure to improve seed production.
More results soon!
Aloha, Dave
Dave...you are talking about the Strongyledon? Well...I learned a whole lot of things just observing the flowers on a vine of friends of mine who get seedpods all of the time... We must have destroyed hundreds of flowers!!!
Yes, the racime starts blooming from the top .... and then when the new flowers open at the bottom of the racime with all the pollen inside but an unreceptive pistil. (here's the kicker...everyone has been thinking insects or bats)...Then the little Japanese White Eye (a tiny little bird who perches on plants and looks for bugs) flies to the bottom of the racime, pushing his beak into the big flower part looking for bugs. Now, this little bird hops up and up the hanging flowers sampling some of the pollen filled young flowers and pretty soon he is in the older flowers, his beak covered in pollen and as he explores the older flower the pollen comes off on the now receptive pistil.
It blew me out of the water!!!! Now...we have tons of little Japanese White Eye (they have a cool local name...) ... why won't they pollinate my Strongy.?? I figured that the vines they visit are exposed and they dont feel threatened but mine is growing over the top of an old chicken coop and the flowers hang down inside...so they won't go inside to explore mine. Dave, are yours in the open where a bird would feel safe. Now at least we know the pollinator. Birds had been proposed but that idea seemed to be poopoo'd as 'not likely'. HAHA!!! I love solving mysteries!!!
Well...Dave is going to help me hand pollinate my Strongy.
Those are gorgeous!!
Hi Carol, I was explaining the Hippeastrum striatum flowers.
I don't have Strongylodon or Mucuna jade vines. I removed a native Mucuna gigantea when it began taking over the garden. Maybe when we pollinate and cross some of your plants, I can get a few seeds from the results.
Sounds easy to remove pollen from the bottom flowers and place it in the receptive stigma.
With a few simple dissections, we should be able to see when the stigma is the most receptive.
Hybridization can occur if the species are somewhat closely related. So far we know that Mucuna and Strongylodon are members of the Papilionaceae Sub-Family of Legumes.
Marie C. Neil, "In Gardens of Hawai'i", places them closely together phyllogenetically.
That's a good start!
OH, if you ever find a copy of that book floating around without a leash, please grab it for me!!! It is the best resource. I have the new one...a 'revision' and it's OK... The first plant I looked up was Hoya and they had it wrong!!! What does that say about the rest of it...
Hey Carol, is that Staples & Herbst, "A Tropical Garden Flora"?
They covered a lot of material, but Marie C. Neal was more thorough.
Also interesting is that she covered things phyllogenetically (in recognized evolutionary order) and the new book is arranged alphabetically so that us botanically challenged folks can keep up.
Neal's use of Phyllogeny makes it easy to move a similar flower shape amongst Families and Genera. Much more helpful in identification.
Watching with great interest....Dave, are you removing the pollen and then hitting the stigma when it is ready? If so, how are you storing the pollen? - or have you got many plants, so that you can always find a receptive stigma?
Carol, that green jade plant is gorgeous again this year! How very interesting that it's the white eyes that pollinate. Those sweet little birds are always hollowing out the papaya way up high - so obviously they eat bugs too. Your project sounds like great fun...
I know it's not related, but I killed my red jade plant - after my SIL made me a very sturdy trellis for it to grow on - made me very unhappy! Wondering if it was because it was south facing...
I have "A Tropical Garden Flora", but find it's way over my head - and it doesn't have color pictures either - great for looking up Hawaiian names though.
Keep us updated on your science project!
Yes...that's the book Dave...Way too heavy to read in bed....
Fertilization appears to be successful!
Not the best shot, but here you can see the seed capsules holding and expanding on the plants. Hopefully making viable seed.
Neat!!!
Dave...do you think the Asiatic and Oriental lilies will grow up here??? Like the Tiger Lilies?
Yes Carol, I am growing Hemerocalis fulva, the Chinese Daylily, which is used in stir fries.
My mother sent me some bulbs from Pennsylvania several years ago and they keep producing every year.
I have not tried Eucharis or Gloriosa Lilies yet, but they do grow in Hawai'i.
Great!!! I have planted tons of daylillies and amaryllis too....love them!
Hey Carol, if you like I can dig up a few bulbs for you. They are the non-hybrid plant that is used in traditional cooking.
They do alright here. In higher cooler elevations like Waimea, Hawai'i or Kula, Maui they flourish!
As you are quite plant-wise, I think you would do well with them!
OK how wonderful!!! Going to the mainland on Wed. for 6 days...when I come back we have to have a 'swap meet'...
Thanks so much,
Carol
Cool, Dave! I had a couple of what I thought were seed heads on my plant, but they withered away to nothing...
Bon Voyage, Carol!
I have a bunch of these in my yard. Great to know what they are.
Disappointingly, I just checked one of the capsules from flowers that I thought I had fertilized, and it is not developing seeds.
Try, try again!
Oh Dave what a shame! One of mine had some small white seeds in it, but of course I ruined it by opening it up. The others just withered as I said. So how is this plant spreading - bulbets (is that a word?) I daren't dig up my only three plants to look even though they are not in the "right place" - under the laundry line!
Hi Jen, I saw the same thing you described (small white seeds) but the capsule was already turning brown, so I figured it was done.
The Barbados Lily was a very popular garden plant in Hawai'i in the past, which explains why it is widespread through the State. The plant readily makes offsets (bulblets) which are vegetative clones, and explains why the same species looks the same across the State. The plant is naturalized though, so it must make seeds; as it has only naturalized in a few areas, there must be certain conditions under which it does make seeds.