And it looks like several in a row more to come!
First Alocasia Bloom
I have a first, too! After several years of waiting, the plant at the link below has bloomed (scroll down to the third picture to see the bloom).
http://aroidiaresearch.org/asarawdk.htm
LariAnn
Aroidia Research
Tall_Shadow
Jun 15, 2009
Congratulations! Both.
Now, to both of you:
What are you going to cross them with?
Answer: "Everything in Sight!" - Imperial Giant, Borneo Tsunami Waves, Sinuate Mac, Robudora, anything else with receptive blooms!
Tall_Shadow
Jun 15, 2009
Wow! That's going to produce some wild stuff!
Can't wait to see.
How about you, Tropicman?
Congratulations!!!!
Can you tell me if this seed pod will ever be viable,from bird nest Anthurium?
Same here,except I don't have a thing in bloom to cross it with!!!!!
Here;s a pic of the plant with the seed pod.
That seed pod is still developing; they take a while to ripen up. When they do, you'll see red berries come out.
LariAnn,
Purple is my favourite colour!! All I can say is YUM!!!
Tall_Shadow
Jun 16, 2009
Kael, I'm with you!
Well, the bad news is this morning I found no pollen on the new bloom. Yesterday I did put pollen from two other plants on the bloom, but I can't go the other direction. Looks like the plant may be sterile - grrrr!
LariAnn
Might it just be that plant itself,and maybe another plant will have pollen?
How often do you find that ?
Occasionally, I have a bloom that seems to have no pollen, then in a later blooming I find that there is pollen produced. In those cases, I chalk it up to "pollen thieves", such as bees or ants. I even caught a caterpillar munching on a Caladium spadix, pollen and all! Ants seem to love the pollen that comes out of the Black Mac bloom, while bees go nuts over the odora and odora hybrid blooms with pollen. Because of this, I try to check for pollen early, sometimes as early as 6 or 7 AM. Generally the pollen drops by 8 AM on the day of male anthesis. If there is nothing by 9 AM, the bloom is likely to be sterile.
In my hybrids, sometimes one selection will have no pollen while another selection of the same cross has pollen. That turned out to be true for the Robudora, where two of the seedling selections produced pollen, while others had none.
Sometimes an early morning shower washes the pollen away, so you have to be on top of it. Even if pollen thieves took it, you can usually get some by tapping the spadix lightly and looking for a little pollen dust coming out. But when a bloom is sterile, nothing will make pollen come out.
LariAnn
Thanks
Very Interesting,now does all pollen have a fragrance that draws the insect to it?
I didn't know all insects could even have the sense of smell.
You wouldn't think those little insects could eat so much!
It may not be the pollen itself, but the bloom, that has the fragrance. I know odora blooms are somewhat sweet or fruity smelling and that by itself will draw insects. Bees, of course, are genetically predisposed to seek out pollen and flowers. Anthurium spadices often smell like fruit that has gone bad, and lots of fruit flies congregate around them. At very close range (i.e. think of an ant crawling over some pollen grains, very close range indeed), maybe the pollen does have a smell!
LariAnn
Well I was wondering just how the insects just know the plant is in bloom,unless something tells them,because they are high up off the ground where they can;t see it easily,but somehow know to go to it at the right time.
Mother Nature knows!!!LOL