Nov 7 -Lycoris seed
James Waddick (Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:51:17 PST)

Dear Alberto and all,

Some Lycoris species hybridize very readily. I have sent Dell
three batches of very likely hybrids or mixes. The least crossed are
forms of L. longituba longituba and L. longituba flavum. These 2 ssp
vary by flower color from pure white to pastel yellow. These two ssp
are growing together and seedlings will likely show a range of white,
cream and pale yellow.

A second batch is a mix of L. longituba x L. chinensis. These
can produce a very interesting mix from golden/orange to white
including some nice lily flowered pure yellow to those that look like
either parent.

The third batch is from a predominantly L. chinensis batch,
but there are some chinensis x longituba hybrids in there and I am
sure there are back crosses. Seedlings should favor L. chinensis, but
are not likely to be pure species.

A fourth batch of seed are from L. sprengeri. This is least
likely cross with anything else blooming at the time so should be
reasonably pure. These seeds ripened early and some fell to the
ground where I picked them up, but in so doing may have some other
mixed in. The smaller seeds the more likely getting the real thing
here.

As mentioned above L. longituba and L. chinensis hybridize
very readily. Ripe pods can easily produce 8 - 10 or 12 pea sized
seeds each. Maybe more. L. sprengeri can be crossed with other hardy
species, but is less likely due primarily to karyotype differences.
I do not grow any other hardy fertile species.

Lycoris are quite slow from seed to bloom, but multiply well
once mature.

Best Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +