Joe and Jay wrote: >Joe wrote: > >>I have a C. bulbisperumum in my yard and it regularly sets seed, no other >>plants in bloom nearby. Does anyone know if C. bulbispermum is >self-compatible, >>does it accept its own pollen. The alternative would be apomictic seed >>production. > >Joe, > >In think that bulbispermum and other species Crinums are self-compatible. I >have had no trouble getting seeds to set when I have selfed a species >Crinum. I don't know that any are apomictic, although there are some little >Amaryllids (like Zephyranthes citrina) that are. I'm getting confused here, but it is interesting. How does one distinguish between apomixis and self-compatibility? The concepts are clear enough, I think: apomixis is seed production without fertilization -presumably involving unreduced gametes which preserve the diploid ploidy level for basically diploid species; self-compatibility on the other hand is the ability of a clone to produce pollen which fertilizes the ovules of the same clone. Do we agree on the basics, or have I got the basics wrong? In either case, aren't the resulting "progeny" simply clones of the parent? The resulting "seeds" are not really seeds, they are just neatly packaged bits of the original plant. In the case of apomixis, the tissue is all derived from the maternal line. In the case of self-compatibility, the tissue is derived from both the maternal and paternal lines, so-to-speak. Except that since the maternal and paternal lines are the same clone, there is no significant difference. If I sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't be fooled. This is all a mystery to me. Would anyone care to explain it (and if so, please work in a bit about whatever it is that is going on in Hymenocallis)? Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where I feel my level of understanding is a bit seedy, and so I'm awaiting the seminal facts.