I hope to find an answer with you specialists on Brugmansias.
I have been wandering who is the natural fertilizer of the Brugmansia flower.
Once in a while I see a bumblebee going into it but getting obviously furious because he cannot enter the very long and narrow entrance to the nectar.
natural fertilizer of the Brugmansia flower ?
GardenGuyKin,
Thanks for your response. I thought of it that it should be a moth. But after all these years my Brugmansia's never made any seeds and I do have quite a lot of moths. I suppose it must be a particular kind of moth with a very long tongue that doesn't live in my area?
LOL. You guys have me so confused which I admit is easy to do. I was sitting here trying to think what the natural fertilizer would be! I was thinking dead leaves. LOL.
I could be wrong but I remember reading it is night moths that pollinate brugs in the wild. At my house it is K mart child's paintbrush. LOL
Bonitin, do you have more than 1 kind? As you probably know, regular brugs (non sang types) need a different brug with different genes for successful pollination.
Do you have a wide variety of brugs in Belgium?
Here is an intestering read on moths and how they get the pollen.
http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/MEMBGNewsletter/Volume4number2/Theplantsthatlovehawkmoths.html
Little in evolutionary biology is as simple as it originally seems. Although the standard syndrome of hawkmoth flowers is easy to diagnose, actually only about half of the genera pollinated by Sphingidae, and only a third of the known species, have narrow tubes. Two other designs exist: trumpet and brush. The trumpet form has white flowers with the same sweet fragrance and deeply placed nectar, but the throat is much wider and spreading. Examples would be daturas (Datura), the various species of Devil's trumpets and angel's trumpets (Brugmansia and Solandra, Solanaceae), Herald's trumper or Nepal's trumpet flower (Beaumontia grandiflora, Apocynaceae), and many night-opening amaryllids (Amaryllidaceae). Many cacti clearly fall into the trumpet design (e.g., Echinopsis multiplex, Acanthocereus tetragonus, and Hylocereus costaricensis) whereas others are more tubular (species of Selenicereus and Stenocereus eruca). Hawkmoths entering trumpet flowers are often thickly covered with pollen.
kell, thank you so much for the information!
I think I know now why I didn't get any seeds all these years. This year I have only one big plant left with beautiful pink flowers. But for many years I had 2 plants, one white and the pink one I still have. Because my plants became so big, I had let go of one because of lack of place. I suppose that the two I had were belonging to the same type, that could explain why I didn't get any seeds until now.
The link you've send is very interesting!
Thanks again!
Actually I didn't explain well enough Bonitin. If one was white and one was pink, they could have made seeds. They have to be exactly alike not to. I bet if you had moths, they were just not attracted to your brugs for some reason. I find I have some brugs that get wild pods on them all the time, and others that do not get any.
Thanks again, Kell, I think that now that I have only one left, I don't have to expect it happening. If I only had more space, I would get lots more of them, because they are magnificent!!
Lately I observed that in two of the flower tubes there was like bitten a hole, perhaps of a frustrated bumblebee!
The Brugmansia I have is fascinating: the young flowers start white, then become creamy peach- yellow en gradually turn to deep pink, it has a very strong perfume. Even one single flower can scent my whole courtyard.
Gosh it sounds like you have a great one! I wish you could take a picture for all of us. I have a few brugs that also can fill my yard with their fragrance, then others that do not have much scent at all. I wonder what scent the moths find so enticing.
Sure Kell, tomorrow I will take some pictures, and try to catch all the different stages of the flower.
GREAT! I will look forward to it.
Do you know Carlos in the Hibiscus Forum? He is in Belgium too. He has the best hibiscus.
Kell, as promised, here are some pictures of the different stages of the flower, I'm still missing the in between stage where the flower turns from white to pink. I think that will be for tomorrow morning as it is getting too dark over here to take more pictures. I don't have as many blooms as previous years probably due to the extreme hot temperatures here in Belgium (for weeks now between 30 and 35 and even more °C).
I don't know Carlos from Belgium. I am fairly new on Dave' Garden.
Young (yellowish) flower
This message was edited Jul 28, 2006 7:49 PM
Same flower a little older
Still the same flower hours later (white stage)
This is not the same flower, but it represents the adult faze.
Old flower.
I will try to make another picture of the first flower tomorrow morning and hope it will show the faze between the white stage and the deep pink.
