Mutisia oligodon

[johnw]

I received seeds of this species from the exchange.

In the past Ian Young said of his oligodon hybrid "It does set some viable seed and we find the odd self sown seedling but I suspect as with a lot of daisies a lot of the seed it produces in not fertile."  How can I tell if the seeds are viable before planting?  Any ideas on treatment or are they immediate sprouters?

johnw - glorious day here

[Maggi Young]

Fatter the seed the better, for a start. Others will need to chime in on technique......

[Lesley Cox]

As Maggi said, fatter the better. Being Asteraceae the seeds, if dropped from a height, say 30cms, onto a paper, will land quickly and with a click rather than drifting and falling on their sides before landing. Applies equally to Celmisia seeds and many others in the family.  In my (very limited) experience, they took quite a time to germinate but remembering that we get seedlist seed in mid summer followed by autumn while you get it mid winter followed by spring. This can add an extra 6, 12 or even 18 months to some seeds' germination time. Someone should write an article about this, specifically as it applies to the different hemispheres (and after 100 years of experiments of course with countless species of seeds).

It may be helpful to insert each fertile seed upright into the seed mix leaving just the pappus above the mix, then add the grit with which you will cover the compost.

[johnw]

Three seeds - one fat and  2 lean -  were planted on the 29th of January and inmmediately a seedling sprouted. It shot up several centimeters but I was immediately suspicious as the seed leaves were bi-lobed. It was very slow to send out true leaves. When it did they were hairy so I suspect it was a weed seed as the compost I used was in a pile near a field.  I pulled it out and immediately up shot another seedling about 2 weeks ago and which sent out toothed leaves a week later.  I think I have a Mutisia! Now should it be grown very cool?

johnw  - a more reasonable +10c and sunny though frosty tonight.

[johnw]

So one Mutisia seedling is growing like mad and another sprouted 2 weeks ago.  If these appear in another pot I would have promptly yanked them out as weeds.  They are not exactly beautiful at this point.  The stems do not seem to match M. oligodon as seen on the internet as images but there's little doubt they are Mutisias. But which?  Or even hybrids.?

1. recent seedling Mutisia
2-4 oldest seedling Mutisia

johnw

[johnw]

Hereis the Mutisia oligodon from this January's SRGC seed.  I am surprised it doesn't seem to be minding the extreme humidity of the past 2+ weeks.  Growing like mad but the foliage colour is quite unlike Maggi's plant, hers is almost black green with white undersides.   This is one of the strangest looking plants I've grown.   Second seedling in this pot croaked when moved outdoors in May, I think the sun got it.  Will the foliage ever darken up or is it just a dog?

johnw

[Maggi Young]

I am not sure of this, but could yours be pure  M. oligodon, rather than our hybrid version, John? 

[johnw]

I am not sure of this, but could yours be pure  M. oligodon, rather than our hybrid version, John? 

Just my luck, the damn thing looks more like leaf lettuce than a Mutisia.  And grows as fast as lettuce too.

johnw

[Hoy]

Johnw, don't be afraid. I had several of those things and none survived the winter (Seed from Chile though.)

[Maggi Young]

 That's right, Trond, cheer him up!

It's still young - your weather has been pretty odd this year - the poor thing may just be growing like a lettuce weed because of that - as the older stems mature it may bethat the whole thing will 'leather-up' and the more mature colouring will develop. 
There, feel any better? 

[johnw]

Much better Maggi.

johnw

[Paul T]

You're definitely right about it looking like a lettuce.    I must admit I would have thought it was a weed too.    Except for the climbing tendrils.  Maybe lettuce have decided to try to take over the world? 

 

[David Nicholson]

Lettus hope not

Yes, I know, but I couldn't let it pass.

[Paul T]

Lettuce pray for an improvement in our humour, David. 

[meanie]

I was wondering how this got on?
I'm sorely tempted by M.linearifolia (http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/HighResPages/EH0308.htm) which grows at higher altitude (although not cheap).