Ismene seedling -- is this the ture narcissiflora?
David Ehrlich (Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:54:51 PDT)
Thank you all for helping me diagnose my Ismene. I had always suspected that
the plants might be x festalis, but about 4 years ago, they started producing
seed, and have been doing so ever since. I knew x festaliswas sterile, so
I wondered whether I might have the true narcissiflora. It never occurred to me
that the seed might be apomictic. Still, I never heard of x festalisproducing
any seed, including apomicts.
The first year, because the seed was green, I planted it half above ground, so
that it could photosynthesize. It soon germinated and produced a very long deep
root which protruded from the bottom of its too small pot. But, nothing more
happened, and after a few months, the seed began to rot. This time I planted
the seeds in a deep pot, and figuring that seeds don’t photosynthesize,
completely covered them. So, I don’t know when germinated occurred or how
growth progressed until that cotyledon popped above the soil in mid-June.
David E.