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Cephalotus: A Few Days From Flowering . . .

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BigBella

BigBella

Here is a Cephalotus flower-stalk -- one of several plants preparing to bloom, taken this afternoon. It has been a few years since I bothered to collect seed; but I am looking forward to that in couple of months . . .

Cephalotus follicularis cv. "Hummer's Giant" -- 20 July
CEPH-2.jpg
 
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Nice!.....I pollinated most of most of my ceph flowers and now they are forming seeds.
 
What a healthy plant and flower you have, there! I did not know that Cephalotus flowers could have a pink tinge to them.
 
BigBella said:
A few days? More like a full month, you slackers!
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The insane heat this year accelerated my flowers (14 stalks this year - a record for me). I've been collecting seed for several weeks and have at least a week or two more...

amphirion said:
do i see spidermite webbing on your stalk sir?
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Every year, I have a spider who sits on top of each stalk (although a few do spin webs between stalks) guarding their mini-domain. The little bums ignore aphids. My largest stalk became infested before I noticed. Another also started a colony but thankfully I got them early.

zlookup said:
Very nice. I assume cephs can self pollinate?
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Good question - from what I've seen, I don't think so. The stamens & stigma mature at different times**. I'm not certain that the pollen is still viable when the stigma matures (by that time, mine typically has changed color). I also believe that I've read of people who grow in greenhouses getting no seed. This year, I spent some time studying the flower progression from opening through seed set. It was very interesting and would probably make for a decent photo-essay (for someone with a decent macro setup). I also got to see a wider variety of pollinators visiting than I had noticed in prior years.

** In BB's flower pic, you can see pollen on the flower at ~4:30 on a stamen at ~4:00. They are two yellow/orange dots on the lower-inside of the stamen. The stigma will eventually open in a few days (similar to how a VFT's stamen opens) and the pollen will typically be brown or not easily visible by that time.

Before anyone asks, seeds will be available from the ICPS seedbank in a week or three.
 
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Here is a shot of the pollination of the tiny Cephalotus flowers. It is done on an almost daily basis, until the ovules begin to visibly swell and/or the flowers close. Say what you will about James and Patricia Pietropaulo and their Carnivorous Plants of the World (they rightfully or wrongly caught a rash of scheiß over the years for a number of different reasons); but, regardless, I learned a great deal from that old book, which preceded D' Amato and The Savage Garden by two or three years: the pollination of carnivorous plants; the division of Sarracenia and cultivation of Heliamphora; raising plalnts from seed; and that of potting mixes long before the advent of the internet or the recent popular resurgence of these plants.

Cephalotus follicularis cv. "Hummer's Giant"
CEPHPOLLINATION.jpg
 
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RL7836 said:
The insane heat this year accelerated my flowers (14 stalks this year - a record for me). I've been collecting seed for several weeks and have at least a week or two more...

.....
Before anyone asks, seeds will be available from the ICPS seedbank in a week or three.
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Thank you Ron. The ICPS seedbank works because of tireless people like yourself.

Mahalo,

MTF
 
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