embryo rescue?
J.E. Shields (Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:42:39 PST)

Hi Folks,

At 01:36 PM 11/24/2004 -0800, you wrote:

Sometimes in crosses, if the genetics of the two parents are not compatible
enough, an embryo will form (ovule in the flower's ovary + pollen gives an
embryo) but no endosperm. Also, because of insufficient hormone
production by the fertilized ovary, the fruit eventually aborts.

However, sometimes, if one removes the embryonic seed from the flower ovary
-- would-be seed pod -- and if one then places the embryo on plant tissue
culture nutrient medium, the embryo will still develop into a plant.

In the wide crosses like Nerine X Lycoris and Crinum X Hippeastrum, it
would probably always be necessary to use embryo rescue tissue culture to
get the hybrid plant.

Especially in the world of Clivia, many wide crosses have been attempted
using Clivia as the seed or berry parent. Success has often been claimed,
but these have never so far as I know been carried out rigorously enough to
preclude the possibility of accidental self-pollination of the Clivia from
its own pollen or that of another Clivia in the neighborhood. Clivia
pollen is very light and fluffy. If you walk briskly past a blooming
clivia, there will be a faint cloud of Clivia pollen blown off into the
surrounding air by your wake. The resulting "hybrids" almost always turn
out to look just like an ordinary Clivia.

So successfully making a very wide intergeneric hybrid is not a simple
thing to do.

I hope this helps explain the process and why it is used.

Jim Shields
in central Indiana

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Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
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