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Re: E. cordifolius
Mickey from Singapore wrote:
>Dwight,
>I am surprised that anyone would discourage hybridization of aquatic
>plants, since some of the popular Echinodorus that we drool over are either
>hybrids or mutants (e.g. E. oriental, E. rubin, E. sp "rose", E. ozelot
>"red flame", E. osiris, etc).
>>From: Dwight <boukmn at mindspring_com>
>>From my perspective, Hybridization is something you want to prevent unless
>>you think the traites you are going to get from the hybridized plant will
>>be complementary. Case in point; when the green wild-type E. cordifolius
>>is grown with the hybrid Marble Queen a plantlet is produced that for me is
>>not commercially viable. It is more difficult to grow than the wild type
>>and has only a fraction of the mottled verigation of the Marble queen. I
>>take certain precautions to prevent inadvertent hybridization.
Mickey:
>I don't really understand this part. Do you mean to say that you actually
>got seeds from crossing wild type E. cordifolius and marble queen? Or do
>you mean that you grow the two plants side-by-side and the plantlet that is
>produced is not as robust as the original?
I have never gotten seeds (that I know of) from messing w/ swords (I grow
'em out doors). They are always flowering & producing runners. But i'm
told you sometimes do get poor marble queen plantlets if they are grown w/
the wild type E. cordifolius. I am also willing to concede that it is
difficult to verify if true hybridization has occured w/o replanting
specific seeds.
>How do you distinguish between "amateur hybridization" and "professional
>hybridization"? Besides, how difficult can it be? And, I personally haven't
>seen any "trash" byproducts of the plant hybridization attempts. Have you?
One of my LFS that's into plants pointed out the "bizzaro" marble queen to
me for the first time. Their Plant Guy sometimes gets them when he orders
Marble queens. They can be I.D.'ed because of their low numbers of white
verigated portions per leaf. It was his hypothesis that they were produced
from marble queens grown with wild type E. cordifolius. I suspect
plantlets are not produced that are the result of hybridization with other
plants EVEN if you deliberately use a feather to mix the pollen of flowers
(you need seeds). You trained Botonists out there, is this true?
I'm not saying an amature can't achieve a brilliant cross of Echinodorus
species. I am just saying its difficult and you are more likely to produce
a plant that is less attractive than either parent. Personally, I too
would like to hear hybidization success stories, but I havent.
>I can't believe that not a single one in this list has attempted to
>hybridize an Echinodorus. Tell me this is not true. How about Aponogeton?
W/in the American contingent of the APD, this kind of thing is more likely
to be engaged in by those in states w/ near year-round high humidity. That
means mostly Floridians are in a position to do this easily. Aponogetons
are too cheap bother to mess w/. Its much more rewarding to track down
and grow something new IMHO, than to hybridize species you have.
Florida Flagfish for Hairalgae Elimination:
http://floridadriftwood.com/floridaflagfish.htm