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I can see both of those traits being welcomed by plenty of anti-GMOers.

I am unsure why/how one newly introduced gene can be better or worse than any other. There is also the option not to use any such seed - no-one is being forced to grow anything.

Quote from: fierycloud on February 11, 2024, 06:25:30 PMSome of the old world species are becoming novel food to the Old world people.

Quotehttps://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/637917

Prodotti contenenti bambù della specie Bambusa vulgaris, novel food/novel food cooked bamboo shoots (Bambusa vulgaris) from Chinanotified 12 OCT 2023 by  Italy | last update 9 NOV 2023

Quotehttps://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/631053
Non-authorized Novel food betel nuts (Areca catechu) from Bangladeshnotified 1 SEP 2023 by  Italy | last update 25 SEP 2023

I am unsure how to read those.
Everyone knows about bamboo shoots, although many may not know betel.
Betel - known as sopari in most shops here in the UK, has been chewed by many Asian people since the dawn of time - it is what stains many peoples' teeth reddish-brown. It is chewed either as is or as part of paan ( pronounced "parn", as in "farm", usually wrapped in a betel leaf, from a different plant entirely). To me it tastes rather soapy, especially as an after-tatste, and not at all enjoyable - if I have paan in an Asian restaurant (as a palate cleanser after a meal), I will always ask for no sopari, which probably strikes most Asian people as very odd as paan is a vehicle specifically for chewing sopari.
You can buy sopari either as whole seeds (they look like large nutmegs), or ready-sliced when it looks a lot like a comic-book version of a section through a brain.

My parents, born over 100 yeras ago now, always mentioned using Areca nut for worming dogs, long before there were wormers available. I have no idea if it worked.

The vast, vast majority of new varieties are still produced by selective breeding. Genetic modification is still generally used only to introduce some trait that isn't anywhere within the gene-pool of the plant (or animal) concerned.

I always take a sanity check when GMOs are mentioned, or two actually -

1. We have been eating maize/corn that is GM'd for years, and...

2. The statement from one or other anti-GMO groups some years ago, if the same change can be produced by conventional selective breeding, it is different/acceptable.............................

I wonder if I am Round-up-ready yet..................................... and if any anti was faced with a xeno-transplant or death, what they'd choose.

Thanks @Uli

The only time that I use a propagator/heat with winter-growing species, is if the seed is said to require temperature swings (such as Lachenalia) and I can't achieve that without.

Late summer into autumn will be OK in the greenhouse, but at this time of year there will be little or no difference day-night, depending on weather - I would use some heat during the day to get 20-25C in the pot (currently we have 8-12C night and day, but as everyone knows UK weather changes an awful lot - at the end of the week we have around freezing all day).

The Androcymbium here are all in the greenhouse now. Minimum around 6C.

Lots of winter-growers - Gladiolus, Albuca, for instance - will germinate well on a window-sill indoors at this time of year, so 15-20C, almost constant.

I have spoken to a well-known grower in mainland Europe and he is of the opinion that very fresh seed is required.
They have sown plenty of seed and only had one germinate.

I will keep the pots here for another year - nothing lost by doing that - but it seems unlikely that they will produce anything.

Where did my post in answer to Carlos go?

There is no right to roam in England (it is different in Scotland). As for Channel Islands and the like.................

The translation to German would be simple enough, the translation from positive to negative and vice versa, more than a little trickier.

In the UK we can get dramatic changes of weather "at the drop of a hat", but very seldom will our Met' Office be far out within 48 hours, less good to a week out. The other advantage is that they produce unadorned stat's, no comments.
This winter, I have been fitting and removing insulation in the greenhouse in response to the forecast,and so far, it has been prefectly adequate enough.

Quote from: Carlos on January 26, 2024, 11:51:07 PMIt does not apply to seeds??? Then I can go to Devon or Cornwall or the Channel islands and collect Prospero seeds??

You still need permission to be there, but you can collect seeds. Just be careful not to disturb the plant.
To be completely legal, you would need a phyto' cert' issued by DEFRA and whatever import requirements Spain stipulates.

I would be very surprised if there were not good numbers of plants in cultivation within the UK. For instance (originally collected in Spain!!) -
Scilla autumnalis – RarePlants

I am sure that you know, but the latin name is used to cover many genetically distinct species which appear all but identical (a so-called cryptic species complex).

UK laws have not changed significantly for many years, so far as native wildlife is concerned, although several laws were re-written into one (The Wildlife and Countryside Act) 40 years ago. 
Laws affecting import and export have changed only for plants - the EU adopted the UK laws regarding animal import/export that had existed for many years here. Import/export laws/regulations with regards to plants have tightened enormously across mush of the world over the past 3-4 years.

You are correct about removal of plants in the UK without permission - this is theft, as I mentioned previously. It does not apply to seed. (Fungi are not plants, and although most people do not know, and those that do would be very unlikely to abuse the right, but anyone can collect fungi, literally anywhere, even from private gardens.)

^^^

Sad, very, very sad.
Loads of kids have no idea where milk or eggs (or cheese/butter) come from.
Although I note, yet again, the resort to an American name for something very everyday.

We Brits will all shortly be walking along the sidewalk in sneekers, being careful not to jaywalk, to go to the mall to buy scallions and rutabegas. Although we will probably have lost the use of our legs and have to drive the 100 yards in a 6 litre 4x4 by then.

Do you need a permit to collect anything in Spain?

In the UK, we are free to collect seed of anything. Only the very rarest of plants are protected from collection. We do sometimes have problems with people collecting where they have no permission, but that is theft.

The EU and UK import laws are essentially the same - the exporter will need to provide a phytosanitary certificate issued by the responsible authority in the exporting country.
You will need to inform your authority when the import is to take place - in the UK, the appropriate authority is DEFRA - Depertmant for Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs; you will probably know the equivalent in Spain.

The problem is probably timing when to transfer pollen - the video suggests every day for a week? 2 weeks?
If you pick a town near the centre of distibution of S. r., you can find online data for max. and min. temperatures, rainfall etc. for every day of the year.

Searching some more, a constant 25C is suggested as ideal for germination for S. r. - which would be close to what I used.

Acacia seed often germinates well if boiling (100C) water is poured over them and they are left to cool for ~12 hours.
Lots of Acacia species rely on their seeds being eaten by large herbivores, which cannot digest the seeds, so they are passed in the dung and then germinate. Some obviously rely on fire in one way or another - Callistemon seed is not released from the capsules until the capsule has been burnt, in some species.

Seeds that rely on ants usually have tiny pieces of "food" attached - usually high in fats, and that is what the ants move, not the seed (which happens to be attached to the food).

The orange tuft on S. r. seed...................logically it ought to be a visual signal, but the seed is huge. SANBI suggests that disperal is likely to be via rodents, but it is not known for sure.

Maybe you did not watch the YouTube video - all is explained. (Except germination)

(I did not remove the orange wool/fluff from the seeds when sown in the bag. From memory, the first seeds germinated within a very short time, maybe 1-2 weeks?)

Pollen that is transferred by birds is usually transferred on the head/face of the bird, frequently on the forehead.

When the SA Botanical Society still had a seed distribution, I hade 100 Strelitzia seeds and most germinated. I put them all in a plastic bag of damp peat/compost and hung it in the airing-cupboard, so probably reasonably constant temperature around 20C or a little warmer, and in the dark. The seeds are so large that removing them as they germinated was very easy.

I am unsure about self-compatibility - have a search of the SANBI website.

Also - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt8Wjys3gBc