Re: D. adelae question

John Taylor [The Banshee] (rphjt@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU)
Sat, 16 Jan 93 19:53:35 +0000

>>Now down to business: I have a D Adelae that is flowering. Will it self
>>pollinate and set seed automatically, or does it need some help? I know
>>it's easier to propagate this species by leaf or root cuttings, but it
>>would be nice to have seed, too. So what's the word on this?
>>
>>Doug
>>
>I thought I recall that this species doesn't set seed ???
>
>Heck if I know. This response is really just a lead in for my
>next story:
>
>A while back I got some D. schizandra via a trade. It grew
>... What's
>more interesting is this: I have my plant in peatmoss, with a top
>dressing of live spahgnum, in a clear plastic cup. What's neat
>is that the roots are hitting the edge of the cup and moving up
>above the soil, where they bud into plants. I now have about 3
>leeeeetle plants, each about the size of a pin head, growing. I
>hope the bugs don't get them. I'm indepted to Thomas Johnston
>for explaining this method of propagating this species. It's
>much faster and more reliable than the leaf cutting method.

D. adelae doesn't appear to produce seed (at least, definitely not by self-
polination and definitely not in my plants ;-) ), however it will produce
plantlets in the same way as D. schizandra (and D. binata amongst others).
Quite often new plants will appear around the "mother" plant, and just as
common are those which appear through the drainage holes of the pot.
You are best off waiting for the plant to self-multiply vegetatively than to
struggle with trying to polinate the little flowers (it shouldn't take too
long to get large numbers of plantlets...)

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| John Taylor [The Banshee] | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| rphjt@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au | Department of Applied Physics |
| MOKING IS A HEALTH HAZARD. | Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+