For the last 3 years I cut the old flowers off my
large (2 metre tall, 7 foot) Typhonodorum which grows
in a pot in my pond. I was under the assumption that
cross pollination between different plants was needed
for seed. 2 years ago I purchased 2 more plants which
will probably start flowering next summer. The idea
was to have flowers to cross pollinate.
After reading some comments on the list about self
pollination on these plants, I left the flowers on my
older plant. On Sunday I noted the spath of one flower
had opened a little and the fruit were loose.
It is now the heart of winter and really cold for us
Brisbanites. The days are warm and sunny in the mid
20's but the temperatures are diving down to 6 and 8
degrees C at night, with frosts in inland areas.
Also my pond is in an area shaded by trees during
winter, and the water doesn't get warmed by the sun.
Given the season and the brown mush of fruit and seed
in the bract, I didn't expect to find viable seed.
However on cleaning I found 9 large seeds. I placed
the cleaned seeds in a pan of water Sunday night.
Inspecting them on Tuesday afternoon I found two had
shoots 2 cm long (an inch), and others were sprouting.
I find this amazing given current temperatures in my
house. For a tropical plant, this plant does well in
our subtropical climate. I'm looking forward to
raising the next generation, however it looks like
I'll need to find homes for some of these plants, or
dig a bigger pond.
I find the root systems of the plant amazing. I repot
my big plant every 2 or so years. most of the roots
seem to be outside the pot and its a major struggle
repotting. Maybe I'll have to look at putting in a
permanent sand bed at the bottom of my pond.
=====
Arno
arnoking@yahoo.com
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