Fertilization & pedicel elongation in xAmaryllis
Ken (Sat, 18 Sep 2010 20:41:50 PDT)

Hey Mike ... thanks for the response!

Your note about capsule absorption seems right on ... and I got a chuckle out
of your plant anthropomorphism!  I am attaching two links to pics I shot today, displaying the varied lengths of pedicels. 

The first ... the pedicel lengths on a xBoopharyllis bloom:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amarguy/5002160129/

and on one of my xAmaryllis belladonna (most likely w/some Brunsvigia genes):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amarguy/5002159591/

An interesting experience with regard to the xBoopharyllis (Boophone disticha x Amaryllis belladonna) ... if I attempt to pollinate ... fruit will form ... but in the past 4 years has never produced any seed leading me to believe them to be sterile.  If I make no attempt to pollinate ... no fruit forms whatsoever.  So faux fertilization (is that a valid term?) and fruit formation ... seems to also affect pedicel length.

BTW ... just today ... trying pollen from Nerine angulata on an xAmaryllis belladonna.  I am hoping for seed despite your experice mentioned below!

Ken Blackford
San Diego

--- On Sat, 9/18/10, Michael Mace <mikemace@att.net> wrote:

Yes, I have seen the same things with my Amaryllis crosses.  If you cross a
flower with something that it really doesn't like, not only will the pedicel
fail to elongate, but the plant will reabsorb the capsule, leaving a short
flat pedicel with nothing at the end.  It's as if the plant is saying, "that
pollen was disgusting and I refuse to even pretend that I would set seed
with it."

This is what usually happens when I cross a Nerine sarniensis selection onto
an Amaryllis.

By the way, some of my Amaryllis selections seem to elongate more than
others.  A couple of them elongate a lot.  This doesn't seem to correspond
exactly to flower size, although it's probably fair to say that on average
bigger flowers tend to elongate more.

Also, flower heads that are one-sided when in bloom (the flowers all point
in one direction) sometimes become more radial as the pedicels elongate.

I have not seen elongation with the other amaryllids that have bloomed for
me -- Nerines and Haemanthus.

Mike
San Jose, CA