Titan Arum Setting Seed

From: Floral Artistry jjingram at pacbell.net> on 2001.12.04 at 05:34:17(7867) I was not aware that the Huntington plant was self pollinated but here is the story: http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/TitanSeed.htm John Ingram +More jjingram@pacbell.net www.floralartisrty.org

From: SelbyHort at aol.com on 2001.12.04 at 15:36:10(7868) This is a very interesting story. They used surgical methods to extract pollen and "ripened" it, then pollinated when females were receptive. Normally, Amorphophallus pollen is released only after the female flowers are no longer capable of receiving it. I don't know if anyone has ever tried this with other aroid species, but certainly others will make the attempt now that Huntington has proven it can be done! The folks at Huntington have deployed these methods sucessfully with some other plants (not aroids) and thought it would be worth a try. However, it must not be genetically optimal to self-pollinate in this manner. Donna Atwood +More << I was not aware that the Huntington plant was self pollinated but here is the story: http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/TitanSeed.htm >>

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 2001.12.05 at 01:09:03(7869) Dear Donna and all Friends, Yes, thanks for pointing this out. I GUESS they would have had to remove a part of the male spadix BEFORE it opened, as the female flowers are 'ready' at least a day or two before the pollen is produced, so Donna, do you have any idea exactly how they manage to 'collect' the immature pollen and 'ripen' it?? Cheers, Julius +More >>This is a very interesting story. They used surgical methods to extract pollen and "ripened" it, then pollinated when females were receptive. Normally, Amorphophallus pollen is released only after the female flowers are no longer capable of receiving it. I don't know if anyone has ever tried this with other aroid species, but certainly others will make the attempt now that Huntington has proven it can be done! The folks at Huntington have deployed these methods sucessfully with some other plants (not aroids) and thought it would be worth a try. However, it must not be genetically optimal to self-pollinate in this manner. Donna Atwood<< << I was not aware that the Huntington plant was self pollinated but here is the story: http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/TitanSeed.htm >>

From: SelbyHort at aol.com on 2001.12.05 at 16:11:14(7870) To Julius and others interested in this subject, See this link for pollination chronolgy and details: http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/TitanPollen.htm +More They had to remove indehiscent male flowers and dissect anthers under a microscope to acquire pollen early enough to pollinate the females. The male flowers that were "ripened" with heat and ethylene exposure appear to be most successful, but could it be that this may simply be due to timing? See their web page for details, although it was really an amazingly low tech kind of operation using film canisters, a pilot light on a kitchen stove, and over-ripe apples. It might be interesting to repeat and expand upon this experiment in some future Amorphophallus titanum flowering, or possibly in some other genera. The pollination chronology page can also be accessed using the technical details link from this before-mentioned page about the seedlings: http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/TitanSeed.htm Donna In a message dated 12/04/2001 8:09:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, ju-bo@email.msn.com writes: << Yes, thanks for pointing this out. I GUESS they would have had to remove a part of the male spadix BEFORE it opened, as the female flowers are 'ready' at least a day or two before the pollen is produced, so Donna, do you have any idea exactly how they manage to 'collect' the immature pollen and 'ripen' it?? >>

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.