Boophane disticha X Brunsvigia josephinae ?

Jim lykos jimlykos@optusnet.com.au
Wed, 06 Jun 2007 06:36:36 PDT
Hi Ken,

Its possible that you have an intergeneric hybrid - but on the other hand there are  Amarayllidaceae species that will produce seed when fertilsed by a species from a related genera but they often turn out to be apomictic.  The recent discovery of FIS genes which control autonomous endosperm development,  is likely to bring light on the process - but the old dea that parthenogensis may result when the pollen tube doesnt reach the ovule is perhaps also possible. 
Two summers ago I fertilising Brunsvigia josephinea with the pollen of  the yellow Crinum luteolum and to my suprise got lots of seed. However now that they are in their 2nd season I can see that the seedlings are not as vigourous as normal and dont show any signs of Crinum influence in leaf structure, habit  and colour.

My intergeneric hybridisation experiments have thus far revealed one  fact - if you get lots of seed from the cross then the outcome is likely to be governed by apomixis. Normally seed from Amaryllid intergenric crosses are easy to differentiate from normal parental seed by changes in colour, size and scarity.  I do  wonder however if we do at times produce somatic hybrids. 
Cheers
Jim Lykos
Blue Mountains Australia  


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Blackford" <kjblack@pacbell.net>
To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 12:09 PM
Subject: [pbs] Boophane disticha X Brunsvigia josephinae ?


> One of my summer growing Boophane disticha bloomed recently (my only one to do so.)   Since I have been unable to self this in previous years, I thought I would try frozen Brunsvigia josephinae pollen collected last fall.   While the pods are not completely ripe yet, it does appear seed is developing.  I opened one of the most ripe looking seed heads to find 3 firm, cream-colored seeds, each approx 5mm or 3/16in in diameter.  Two of these display a light pinkish tinge on one side.  Any similar experiences out there, guesses as to the viability of this seed, or as to the likelyhood these may actually produce hybrid plants?  I thought normal B.disticha seed was usually green and slightly larger.
>   
>  Ken
>  San Diego, CA
>  USDA zone 10, maybe 11
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