"dummy" or infertile nepenthes seed

[NepsAroundTheHouse]

Hey Folks,

I've had some female ventricosas in the past produce seed pods with seed that were sterile. Heard that sometimes females that don't get fertilized can produce "dummy" seed. I have now a female N. maxima with seed pods that I didn't fertilize but had a male N. maxima X ventricosa male in flower at the same time nearby. My question is how can you tell viable seed from "dummy" seed? Do you have to try to germinate the seed as the only means for viability or can you tell by the seed shape and color?

Thanks,
Joel

 

[shokuchuu]

Hey Joel
I've observed a single female fruit develop with viable seed, compared to sterile ones. They grow considerably in length and girth, and this is a good indicator of a fertilised flower.

I noticed that seeds were plumper at their centre, whereas an unfertilised female N. edinensis produced a mass of very thin and dry seeds.

Good luck!

Amori

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Yes, very thin seeds with no visual "embryo ball" at the middle are generally no good. I had many from my N. x rokko x N. x gentle plant...only 2 seeds germinated out of about a half a flower stalk.

 

[AaronJ]

So, will a female Nepenthes flower ALWAYS develop seed despite if it was fertilised or not?

Aaron.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

The pods are smaller and inside are what look like seed but they are also smaller and have no viable seed in the center. They also dry and split in fairly short order compared to fertilized pods.

T

 

[swords]

Speaking of seed development I've been waiting for the pods of the N. (aristo. x thor.) x Miranda hybrid to open since about August... Is there any general time frame I should expect the pods will open or start to suspect they are duds?

 

[SydneyNeps]

Josh,

It can take quite some time. The pods can take a while to swell and grow, and once grown, can take even longer to mature. Eventually, they start to turn brown, at which point can they can be harvested. Be careful not to leave them to long once they start to turn, as they can pop open overnight, and you have seed neatly dispersed everywhere. You can also cover the raceme with a wax paper bag, so if the seed pods open, the seed is collected.

Hamish

 

[schloaty]

I, too, am waiting for some seed pods to mature. It's taking a LONG time...I hope this is a good sign.

Anyway, it's my campx vent cross (thanks to Jeremiah for the pollen). I'm still not sure if I was successfull in my pollenation attempts, but I guess time will tell.

 

[pond boy]

The seeds from Jeremiah I received have no visible embryo and are much smaller then the ventricosa seed,shoul I be worried

 

[SydneyNeps]

It depends on the species, as Nepenthes seed is not identical across the genus. Many species have long, thin seed with a visible swelling in the middle, which is the actual seed embryo. Some species, however, have shorter seeds without distinct swelling, for example, mirabilis and thorelii. Pervillei has different seeds again, but it is still open to debate whether this is actually in the genus as it is not cross fertile with any other species.

 

[pond boy]

Realy? Pervillei is not cross fertile and could be in a genus of it`s own? Thats cool! Have any photos\links to photos of this plant? Is it known wether the reason is because of uncompatible chromasome counts?(and if so has someone colchine treated some seed to produce crossable pervillei?).Are the physical differences in this plant enough to warrant seperate genus classification?

Are there other non-cross fertile Nepenthes? This is interesting stuff Thank you for sharing Hamish(what a neat name for a Nep enthusiast).

 

[rattler]

out of curioustiy what is the "average" seed yield per flower? i realize there will be variation but whats the average?