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  Amorphophallus pollen request
From: Tom Croat <Thomas.Croat at mobot.org> on 2015.08.13 at 23:39:24(23455)
Dear All: I am in Ecuador with poor connections. Could someone please advise my old friend Boyce Tankersly how he can best save and share pollen of A. titanium with others?

Tiom

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From: "Weaver, Bill (NorCal DCIS Team Lead)" <bill.weaver at hp.com> on 2015.08.14 at 20:23:56(23456)

Pretty straight forward. At the end of the first day install foil trays abo ve the female flowers and below the male flowers. (see attached) overnight the male flowers will produce pollen that can then be swept into the trays and the trays removed at the end of the day.

The pollen should then be packaged and frozen and kept as cold as it can be . The pollen from the 2005 blooming of Trudy at UC Berkeley was kept in a D NA freezer at 80 degrees F below zero and was fully viable two years later when applied to Titania in 2007.

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From: Tom Croat <Thomas.Croat at mobot.org> on 2015.08.14 at 22:38:20(23457)
Dear Bill:

Thank you so much for your good advice. I am astonished that it will last so long. I would think such temperatures would cause it to break to pieces.

Tom

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From: "Weaver, Bill (NorCal DCIS Team Lead)" <bill.weaver at hp.com> on 2015.08.14 at 23:07:21(23458)
And stranger still, it was not dried first. It was frozen 'fresh' as I was told for titanium pollen, "if it dries it dies".

-----Original Message-----
From: aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of Tom Croat

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From: Corey W <cewickliffe at gmail.com> on 2015.08.17 at 20:59:09(23462)
Very interesting to note, given that there are groups of pollen and seeds who have the "if it dries it dies" issue. Things like these are important to note for various species since in some cases dried pollen may perform better, and also how to store "humid" pollen (or seeds!) for long periods. It never ceases to amaze me that what won't work at "regular" freezer temperatures (due to ice crystals forming and fracturing cells maybe??) may work at -80. -80 is also significantly cheaper (and safer) to work with than liquid nitrogen!

Kinda makes me wonder if that would work with the seeds too? Were the pollen samples ever tested for (length of) viability at other temperatures? Forgive me if there are good references about this already, my attempts to look into the subject found little to no information on tropical species that can't be dried other than "use fresh".

Best, Corey

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