[pbs] Lily family seeds
Kathleen Sayce
ksayce at willapabay.org
Sun Jul 12 22:52:30 EDT 2009
I'm curious about the production of viable seeds among members of the
lily family.
Some weeks ago the topic of sorting viable seeds from nonviable seeds
in Lilium came up, if memory serves. (Sorry, I did not go back to
check PBS archives). Keeping this in mind, when I was cleaning tulip
and Erythronium seeds today, I noticed that the tulip seeds in the
first lot sorted out into 3 groups: Light-colored seeds often
misshapen, and always light brown to clear (56%); brown seeds with a
lighter interior (37 percent); brown seeds with a tiny straight dark
line near the more acutely pointed end (7 percent).
Is this a typical ratio for viable seeds? I know there must be
climatic variations; I am not gardening in anything like the original
climate for this particular species, Tulipa sylvestris, and expect
less viable seed as a result.
I also had Erythronium oreganum seeds, thanks to Dave Brastow, and
found 41 plump dark seeds in one pod, and one pod of Tulipa
vvedenskyi, out of which came 2 dark seeds, no sign of an embryo, and
hundreds of pale, thin, empty seeds. I have 4 pods of later flowering
Tulipa clusiana drying now. Deer got the rest this year.
Kathleen
In cloudy, rainy SW Washington.
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