Podophyllum pleianthum ....and others

[Lesley Cox]

That's a shame Tony, and you can tell her from me she's letting a good name down. As it happens, I was thinking Paddy's pic looked like some appalling creepycrawlie, a ghastly, genetically modified tarantula type or something. There's something for you to worry about Maggi.

[Tony Willis]

an update on my dysosma's.They appear to have held off flowering until I have got home and so I am hopeful of being able to pollinate a couple. I notice slugs have grazed the anthers of the first flower to open so no chance of pollen there. The plants seem to have thrived by being released from their pots and here are a couple of pictures of them in the garden.The first which may be pleianthum has leaves 21 inches in diameter. I have four of them and they are all this large and quite striking. They could become a pest if they swamp other plants. That comment is no doubt the kiss of death to them.

[Tony Willis]

Here are a couple of pictures of berries on two of my dysosma. They came from Chen-yi as versipelle but look nothing like the description in Stearn's book. I am sorry they are so poor but they are taken with the camera handheld in the gloom but I do not think pictures of them are common so its the best I can do.

There were 9  flowers on three plants(one being a different species by the look of the berry,which I am  not showing yet and may be infertile and drop of) and none were open at the same time as another one on a different plant. They are not self fertile. I collected the anthers and stored them in a film container in the fridge and used them as other flowers opened.

This proved interesting because the book says they are pollinated by flies and when I opened the container the stink was awful.

There is no guarantee there will be seeds but I am hopeful.

[Lesley Cox]

They look very hopeful Tony. Best wishes for them.

[Carlo]

Love that delavayi...

Are you growing difforme?

[rob krejzl]

Thank you Tony.

[Tony Willis]

Love that delavayi...

Are you growing difforme?

I think I am growing difforme but they are all so variable that it is difficult to tell. I got a selection from Chen-yi over two years with a variety of names. These with the berries had flowers like delavayi but leaves between that and versipelle. I have also raised a number from seed and they are very variable.i think it will be another month or so before I know if there is any seed and I will have to stop the slugs eating the berries which unlike the anthers have a lovely fruity smell when ripe.

[Paul T]

Great stuff Tony.  Good luck with the seeds.  Rare and wonderful if you get them to mature successfully!!  Fingers crossed for you. 

[Tony Willis]

A minor disaster has occured. Let me say first of all I do like cats.

A (expletive)cat has jumped down on one of my plants and broken of the stem with the seed pod attached.  It is not ripe and so I have detached it and I am trying to ripen it with the end of the stem immersed in water in a plastic cup on the windowsill. I showed the this to Mrs W who said she feels married to a nutter, but this comment is nothing new so I have ignored her and carried on.Fingers crossed.

[Maggi Young]

Oh, dear, Tony, what a shame.  Mind you, with your water treatment and a modicum of luck, there may still be a chance to get live seed from the pod.  I haven't any experience of nursing one of these pods through in such a fashion, but it does work for some things, so hang in there!
 Mrs W... remember the service....... it did say "for better or worse" etc... now you really see the small print in the contract !! 

[Tony Willis]

Maggie perhaps I should not mention this but it was 39 years yesterday so she is quite used to me by now and I might add vice versa. I do still have the second pod.

[Maggi Young]

Tony, I am so glad you did mention it... now we can send you both our fondest congratulations! 
Who said it wouldn't last?
 Terrific to have been together for that length of time... nowadays seems fashion is for marriages that barely outlast the reception salmonella.

Ian and I were celebrating many years of unremitting squabbling on the 2nd August........36 years married and do you know, I think he is very nearly trained now ..... at least that what he tells me!
Fond congratulations to Mr and Mrs Willis! 

[Lesley Cox]

August 2nd would have been my Dad's 101st birthday had he still been alive and it would also have been his and Ma's 75th wedding anniversary.

Tony, it's well worth the glass-on-the-windowsill treatment for your pod. Many more plants will mature this way than we realize, I think. When weeding a couple of years ago I broke a stem of a Nomocharis in bud. Really mad at myself, I took it inside hoping it would open in a glass on the windowsill. It did (3 flowers) then made a seed pod. Eventually (after many water changes) the pod opened and although there wasn't a lot of fertile seed, there was some, which I sowed and had a dozen germinate.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

And so many of us have troubles growing the darn things.... you break em off and then still manage to get seed to mature and germinate. 

Tony,

Congrats on the 39th wedding anniversary.  Well done!!  And good luck with the pod.  With seed as unusual as that I'd be trying anything to keep it going.  Keep us posted on the results.

Maggi,

And obviously if you believe what Ian tells you he's got YOU trained!!