some self pollinate, and others only require a gentle shake of the flowers. The rest need to be hand-pollinated.

Not a very helpful answer, perhaps, but you asked a really general question. Were you thinking of any in particular?

Some of the self pollinators are Chirita tamiana, some streptocarpus hybrids, Pemtadenia orientandina and some of the micromini sinningias. But, most can be easily self pollinated. Just remember that almost all gesneriad flowers open with the pollen ready, while the stigma is held back and not yet ready. After a few days, as the pollen dries or fades the stigma grows out and exert itself becoming receptive. It is usually possible to pollinate a flower with its own pollen but often it is more successful to pollinate older flowers from freshly open flowers. What flowers are you interested in pollinating??

Jon

Dear Komi and Jon

I am in Australia. A year ago I discovered a love of plants, particularly gesneriads. I have acquired every type that I can find here (not an easy task!). I only managed to find one strep (caulescens). I have quite a few other types, though - columnea, aeschynanthus, episcia, nematanthus, chirita, gloxinia, chrysothemis and saintpaulia.

I purchased many books but they all lack the sort of details I require. This list is great!

I have built a 16'x16' greenhouse, a shadehouse and two humidity/temp controlled propagators and I have managed to propagate all my gesneriads vegetatively.

Now I want to do the same from seed. However I am having trouble with the very basics - identifying seedpods and knowing which plants need to be hand pollinating.

BTW I figure that the only way to 'grow' my collection will be to order seeds from o/s. I have found a site in the UK (Chiltern Seeds). I assume there are good US sites for gesneriad seeds?

Please excuse my ignorance.......

Thes best source of seed is the seed fund of the American Gloxinia and Gesneriad Society. The list is very long and only lists gesneriads, no other kinds of plants. Currently there are approx. 400-500 varieties, mostly species but also plenty of hybrid mixes. In particularly large variety are sinningia and streptocarpus, both species and hybrids. The seed can only be purchased by AGGS members, who see the seed fund published twice a year in the society quarterly journal, The Gloxinian. The list is not available on-line. Individual seed packets cost $1.50 US, and overseas purchasers can use credit cards to avoid having to convert their money. New members to AGGS receive a copy of the current seed fund list with their new member packet that comes after joining. You can join AGGS on line at their website, www.aggs.org . I'm a life member. Membership also comes with four issues of the journal, which is an excellent publication. Back issues of the journal can be purchased from the publications chairman. All of this can be done on-line.

All of the seed in the seed fund is donated by members, many overseas. We have quite a few members from Australia, some of whom attend our annual convention. I think there is an Australian society but I don't know anything about this. Other than Chiltern, I haven't seen other sources for seed. You could connect with other members in your part of the world by joining the on-line gesneriad disscussion group, Gesneriphiles, which operates as an email mailing list. There is info on joining gesneriphiles (free) on the AGGS web site--check the list of pages at the bottom of the home page, or do a search of the site.

Jon

Here is a link that might be useful: AGGS web site.

I don't have a lot of pics of seed pods, but here are a few. You can also find some pictures of berries and seed pods etc. at http://gesneriads.ca

In case it sneaked by you, the gem up above was this:
Just remember that almost all gesneriad flowers open with the pollen ready, while the stigma is held back and not yet ready. After a few days, as the pollen dries or fades the stigma grows out and exert itself becoming receptive.

Without that tidbit, I would not have managed to pollinate my Aeschynanthus.

Here's an old flower with the stigma readily visible:

This is a seed pod of Aeschynanthus longicaulis - pretty unusual:

And ripe and dry seed looks like this:

Here's a gaping wide flower of Columnea Early Bird with stigma and pollen visible:

Here's a seed pod on a micro mini sinnigia, Rio das Pedras - this one spontaneously selfs. The thing in the top middle is not a bud but a new pod.

This is a streptocarpus that spontaneously sets seed (this might be why I got it in the AGGS new member packet). The seed pods are pretty small on these first blooms on a seedling. The pods twist as they ripen and dry.

Some of them don't develop obvious seed pods. For e.g., on this Sinningia, after the flowers died off, the green calyx at the base of the flower dried up and a few weeks later spilled seed allover the leaves.

Jon

Thank you! I have joined the AGGS following your advice.

Komi

Thanks for the great photos. I still cannot find seed pods on my columnea but I will keep looking. In photo 2 did you mean the long feature?
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BTW After spending a lifetime deeply involved with the physical sciences, I cannot believe how much pleasure I derive from plants. It is my intention to learn as much as possible and I am extremely grateful for the contact.

yes, in photo 2 it's the bean-like thing.

I have yet to be successful pollinating a columnea. From what I gather (and I could be very wrong), columnea berries take a while to form, so after all the pollinating activities you have to wait a while 'til you see results (or not, as in my case).

Yes, that's right Komi. I discovered this factoid about columneas. When I pollinated them I didn't see anything happening. But, (here's another nifty bit), the pedicel and calyx on a successfully pollinated flower will not fall off. Generally the pedicel will grow a little thicker. This is true, more or less for all gesneriads. So, one way to get an inkling of success is if the pedicel and all doesn't fall off or shrivel up after the flower fades. But, in columneas, I noticed that the calyx lobes will fold up over the developing berry. So, it looks there there is nothing there. Then what seems like months later I all of a sudden noticed the berries. I guess it takes some time for the berries to become noticible. Perhaps the calyxy lobes open up to display the berry. Columneas make a true berry, almost always white in color, about a half inch to three quarters of an inch in diameter. Some of the oddball members of the genus make colored berries. Actually the genus columnea was broken up by Whieler into five genera, but the folks at the Smithsonian don't recognize all the other genera (trichantha, pentadenia, dahlbergeria, and I forget (bucinella or something). Sooo, if you ever get a Trichantha purpureovitatta, be sure to pollinate it. The berries turn from white to the most wonderful shade of rich salmon pink.

Also, just to let Domaman know, the seeds of aeschynanthus are uncharacteristic for gesneriads in having little hairs on the seeds, which make the seed mass look like fluff. Most gesneriad seeds are dustlike with the biggest gesneriad seeds (codonanthe) being about the size of poppy seeds.

Sinningias do make noticable seed pods. They are green and pointy, and fatten up just enough to be obvious. One gesneriad that makes the most frustrating pods is kohleria. They look very shriveled as if the pollination didn't take. Also, they don't tend to crack open. So, I have picked what I thought were worthless pods, cracked them open, and found lots of really dust-tiny seeds.

One of the most fascinating gesneriads from the seedling point of view are the single leaf streptocarpus species. When they germinate there are the typical two tiny cotyledon leaves. But, then one elongates and grows into the single leaf of the plant while the other quickly fades away. Most single leaf species die after flowering and presumably setting seed. But, a few will continue along, making one new leaf each year. The one that I know that does this is S. davisii. (I will have to grow that one again someday). I suppose that with good culture this one will eventually make two leaves after flowering, thus branching in the way an orchid does.

I enjoyed your photos, Komi. I really enjoy the study of all the finer parts of the gesneriads. The stigmas up close can be quite fascinating to study. Some are bilobed and open up like a book, while others make these Martian looking round discs. Real botanists get into the really fine parts of the flowers to study, of which I know nothing about--nectary glands, trichomes (hairs), annular rings (huh?), etc.

More trivia from Jon

"Columneas make a true berry, almost always white in color, about a half inch to three quarters of an inch in diameter".
Since I have lots of columnea and have never seen such a berry I assume that I must first hand pollinate to create a berry (i.e. that there is no self pollinbation). Will do!

Thanks!

Jon is being a fountain again :-)

so I keep thinking that I should try sowing that seed-like stuff that came out of the dried-up sinn cardinalis calyxes - it didn't produce pods but these sure look like seed. I meant to pollinate the flowers again but I missed it and it just finished a flush of blooms.

I would really love to see that video. I wonder how anyone manages to hybridize using the micro mini sinningias, for example. We barely managed to self a White Sprite by sticking a paper clip up the flower - rather rude and violent.

This thread has just reminded me that I also forgot about some White Sprite pods I had (seed scattered all over the pot - maybe I'll get seedlings) and the Diastema vexans as well (which probably will not result in seedlings because seed would have scattered away from any potting medium). *sigh*

>...almost all gesneriad flowers open with the pollen ready, while the stigma is held back and not yet ready.Jon, does this hold true for Saintpaulia?

Korina

I haven't had much experience with the saintp's. I know they behave a little differently for some reason (I guess because they have a separate society). AI did once self a species, forgot about it, and was surprised later on to see a nice little conical seed pod on the plant.

With pollinating the mini-sinns (again not much real experience) it is easier to remove the corolla and then pollinate the stigma. I feel another trivia coming on......wait.......almost.....oh, yeah: All gesneriad flowers have the boy parts attached to the corolla with the stigma separate. So, it is an easy thing to pull off or tear off the corolla to remove the anthers and have the stigma bare and vulnerable to your meddling. This is especially useful when dealing with small flowers like the minis, or ones that self pollinate--i.e. you can remove the corolla while the stigma is still retracted and unreceptive. It will grow out and be ready in a day or two. Also, handling the corolla separately can make it easier to gather the pollen, or you can hold the torn corolla so as to daub the anthers directly onto the stigma. Sometimes the corolla doesn't want to be tugged off. Sometimes in pulling the corolla the whole flower pulls off the pedicel. Two ways to prevent this. The first is obvious, tear the corolla off rather than pull it off. The second, which often but not always works: gently squeeze the base of the flower at the calyx and then gently tug on the corolla. Or, hold the calyx with one hand and grab the corolla with the other to tug it. Remember, even if you have no use for the seeds, it is educational and fun to pollinate flowers, just to learn the sequences. Producing seed from selfing of species teaches you the techniques that you use later on when hybridizing with that genus.

Two well known self pollinators that we forgot:
Chirita tamiana. This one is also ever blooming, and makes a great addition to a collection. Someday it will be quite common but it is still little known outside of gesneriad circles. It was only introduced for the first time in 1999, when leaves went for high prices at the AGGS convention auction. The next year, everyone had it, from all the selfings that people did that year. It also blooms in three or four months from seed. I don't think anyone has had any success hybridizing with this species though.

Chirita annuals. Seed of these comes in the new member packet of mixed seeds. They grow fast with big single leaves and later thick watery stems. They quickly grow to flower, loving constant moisture, warmth, and high humidity. The three or four or more species of annuals come in lavender or yellow flowers, which self pollinate as they bloom. Grow these from your own seed each year. They aren't much seen outside of the new member experiences though, and that's a shame. They are neat little strange things with pretty flowers. I always mean to grow them again, but, sigh, there are just too many plants I want to grow.

Jon, home of the daily tidbit

"neat little strange things"

little...?

just want to say that the one I got - probably a lavandulacea - was huge. I broke the growing tip so it became this gigantic thing with a 3-4" diameter stem, 4 ft wide and 4 ft tall in an 8" pot - who knows how big it would have become had I potted it up. I ran out of light by the time it was ready to flower, so I think I managed about 4 blooms. It was.... fun.... I mean to try it again, though. *very* watery stem and leaves.

The AGGS mixed seed pack was tons of fun.

I found a great photo of columnea berry at http://www.gesneriads.ca/colum075.htm
Now I know what to look for!

Wow, Komi, I've never heard of one getting that big. I guess in my experience I always dried them out before they had the chance at hugeness. Those watery stems are so unlike any other gesneriad with the exception of some of the species streptocarpellas, like holstii. I think they must like your conditions, along with constant moisture. I would guess that they are perfect candidates for wicking (with a big wick and a big reservoir),

Jon

OK. Just a start but I now have a pot full of codonanthe seedling! I spread the squashed orange berries on paper, dried everything and then selected seeds using a microscope. I appear to have essentially 100% germination.

Still haven't seen any sign of seed pods on any nematanthus, of columnea. Patience.....

congrats!

Fresh seed seems to germinate very very well. It gets addictive after a while, although you soon learn to only sow a few seeds - especially if you have limited growing space.

Last night I couldn't fall asleep so I dug out my pot of seeds from the fridge and sowed half a dozen types of gessies (mostly streptocarpus species and primary hybrids). Not sure how old these seeds are so fingers crossed....

Komi

Thanks. Exciting stuff! In a previous life I was an astronomer but this is real fun too.

I have just received a package from Mauro in Brazil (columnea) and I cannot wait to sow. But as you point out space is a real premium. I have built two propagating chamber - 45 gallon plastic bins with bottom heat and ultsasonic humidifiers. They have a clear top and act as mini greenhouses (approx 3 feet long and 2 feet wide). They seem to work really well. Chiltern Seeds greenhouse lottery mixture. No idea what is growing but it will be exciting to find out.

Thanks
Glen

When you have a pot full of seedlings from something like a codonanthe, nematanthus, columnea, or other basket plant you can just move the pot up as the seedlings grow, leaving them all to grow together. This makes a nice full basket in the shortest time possible. You can also transplant the seedlings and spread them out in a bigger basket. But, use lots of seedlings--the more you use, the fuller the final basket will be. A late friend who did hybridization always potted up his hybrid seedlings of these types together, making a few baskets out of each cross--maybe 10-20 seedlings per basket. Then he grew them out in his greenhouse and let each seedling hang down so that they all had an equal chance. When they flowered he made his selections by taking cuttings of those plants, being careful not to confuse them. Its a very efficient way to raise a lot of seedlings to maturity. He was in business so he just sold off the mixed baskets after he was through making selections. Columnea and nematanthus can take a while after pollination before the pods show themselves. For a long time they are hidden by the calyx sepals, which will grow out and enclose the developing berry (columnea) or fleshy capsule (nematanthus). Codonanthe have the largest seeds of the gesneriads, as big as poppy seeds. They are meant to be distributed by ants as well as birds. Oh wait, I am getting into areas where I don't know too much.

Mauro has been a wonderful contributor to the gesneriad society. Quite a bit of the seeds in the fund, mainly Brazilian sps. are from him. I am happy that he is now also selling seeds. I grow Sinningia mauroana and S. iarae, named for him and his sister.

At the convention I quizzed our very able Membership Secretary, Bob and confirmed that he sent out a new member packet to you. However, right now the seed fund is going through a transition as it is being given up by the Connolly's and taken on by a group of members (its a huge job). So, I am just guessing, but there may be a delay in receiving orders for a while. But, I would still order, as well as donate seed. Look for information about the new contact people on the AGGS web site--officers page. There will be a new address to send orders to as well as addresses to send seed donations too. Carolyn Ripps and Gussie Farise are the new co-chairpeople. This information will not make it to the Gloxinian until the 4th quarter issue, with the 3rd quarter issue going into the mail right about now. The full list of the seed fund is always published in the first and third quarter issues, with additions and deletions from the list announced in the 2nd and 4th issues.

Jon

Thank you for the feedback and information. I have received my 3rd Q Gloxinian and ordered from the seed fund. I realise that delivery may take a while. I hope to be able to contribute seed at some stage but I am still learning.

I do like the idea of multiple cuttings in baskets and currently have around 100 hanging baskets. I have an A. micranthus which is 2 feet across and hangs over 3 feet below the basket and a C. gloriosa over 4 feet. This just reminded me to check my roof loading! Just weighed the micranthus and it weighs in at over 8 pounds.

Thanks again........I enjoy the company of the list.