Veratrum californicum - self fertile?

[brianw]

I have bought a couple of Veratrum californicum plants over the last 2-3 years. 1 has flowered this year and is covered in apparently full seed pods. The only other Veratrum flowering in the garden and 40-50 metres away is a large clump of V. nigrum, which I watered regularly. This never seeds for me. Album and fimbriatum could not tolerate the hot dry summer and disappeared, regardless of me watering them too. I am just hoping the latter is still there.

Thames Valley, UK

[Diane Whitehead]

I have only one Veratrum,  V californicum , which flowered for the first time this year.

I expected to collect lots of seeds for the exchange, but the hundreds of flowers produced
only 15 dark brown pods - about 2 cm long. They were on the top part of the stem - the
lower branches didn't have any.  They are a real fiddle to pry open to get the seeds out.
 I'm glad there weren't hundreds.

 Each contained one or two buff-coloured seeds, rather flat, darker in the centre with
a pale papery rim.  The 15 pods produced 21 seeds.

I wonder if the centre is thick enough to be a viable seed.

Maybe I should test these and donate next year's crop.

[brianw]

My pods are still green but seem to have something solid in them. I will cut 1 open tomorrow to see what's inside. Should I let the soil go dry to hasten ripening do you think? The leaves are streaked green and brown now. It is in a pot so I could move it to get more sun. It has sun from sunrise 'till about 10 am at present.

[Diane Whitehead]

I don't know.  Mine is in the ground, which of course is dry, since we won't get rain
till the fall.

I just looked it up and found in nature it grows in moist places.  No wonder mine took so long
to get big enough to flower.

[Robert]

In the wild Veratrum californicum var. californicum grows in moist meadows at a fairly high elevation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Temperatures in this region rarely rise above 80 - 85 F (26.7 to 29.4 C) during the summer. Although some of the meadows that they inhabit can become dry they rarely become completely desiccated (only during extreme drought). This time of year the leaves generally look tattered, yellowish, brownish, and sometimes almost dried out.

I have never investigated the breeding requirements of this species, however based on the flowers I would suspect that the species is reluctant to inbreed (self). Clearly it is not an obligate out-breeder, but I doubt it wants to self. This most likely accounts for the poor seed set on single plants in cultivation. I would be extremely cautious of inbred depression after maybe only one or two generations of inbreeding (selfing). Loss of vigor or poor germination of F1, or F2 seedlings may be indicative of a strong tendency toward inbreed depression. Experimentation will give us more insight into this matter. In the wild, plants generally set good amounts of viable seed. I have never had problems germinating wild seed.

Good luck with your endeavor. Please post the results. We can all learn something.     

[brianw]

The plant is now more or less brown, excepting the top stem, seed pods and their stems which are heading that way. There are 20+ side branches, 20+ pods per branch, and 8 apparently good seeds in the single pod I opened. The pod structure suggests it should be a multiple of 3. Should be a good seedex for this plant this year. Sorry I can't take responsibility for any inbreeding. ;-)

I could imagine this plant being quite invasive if let into the wild here, though it is not that showy a flower so unlikely to get popular, apart from the poison. Not quite another mimulus in Scottish streams but more on an impatiens scale. A fimbriatum californicum cross might be interesting. Don't their habitats almost approach?

[Robert]

Brian,

The Veratrum californicum and V. fimbriatum do not overlap in their range. Veratrum fimbriatum is a coastal species for the most part. Veratrum californicum is found in the mountains, and of coarse, well beyond California.

If the seed ends up at the seed exchange, it might be good labeling it as selfed. We can all learn more about the breeding system of this species.