My tropical plants make seeds all the time. My Hedychiums (butterfly gingers) set seed every year. I plant some of them, not all. I have had seed set on tropical vines like the Green Jade Vine, tropical trees like the Brownea macrophylla. And many seedpods on Brugmansia and Plumeria. But by far the easiest seeds and fastest to germinate and see plants from are Anthurium.
There are over 1000 species of Anthurium, and they are separated into 'sections' scientifically based on multiple morphological characteristics (and now in this day and age, on DNA testing). Some plants from different section groups will crossbreed easily, some not at all.
Anthurium hybrids usually have to be made; sometimes they will occur naturally in a closed place like a greenhouse, but the problem is that the receptiveness to pollen and the production of pollen don't occur at the same time. So while it is usual for a single plant that has multiple blooms to self pollinate between 2 or more blooms, its less likely for two different species of plants removed from each other by space to pollinate each other.
I have grown many Anthuriums from seed that have pollinated themselves in the past. This time, I wanted to try to invent my own plants. SO I hand pollinated some plants!
I tried to do crosses between sections of plants that have had successful crosses made by others in the past.
For the ovule (seed bearing) parents I used:
Anthurium vittarifolium (a strap leaved member of the section Urospadix)
Anthurium schechtendalii and Anthurium Crenatum...members of the section Pachyneurium
Anthurium crystallinum x faustomirandae (a hybrid already itself, Crystallinum is from the Cardiolonchium section)
For pollen donors, I used Anthurium Spectabile, A, pseudospectabile (both pachyneuriums); A. watermaliense (an atypical member of the same section); Anthurium podophyllum and pedatoradiatum (members of the section Dactylophyllum) and Anthurium clarinervium (Cardiolonchium)
Anthurium fruit are variable. Most start out green, and ripen to red, orange, purple, pink or white. A few ripen to black. It depends on the species.
These are only 3 of the seed scapes I got for my efforts
Tropical seeds have a LIFESPAN. It is generally quite short. The best thing to do is put a hosiery or net bag over developing seeds, and when they start to fall off, collect them and plant them immediately.
This is how I plant mine. Some people plant directly into soil, but that is not the way I learned. I use damp sphagnum moss and I have a huge germination success rate.
First, I collect my seeds. These are from Anthurium vittarifolium as the ovule plant. Who the pollen plants are is anyone guess. I was indiscriminate in my pollination, putting more than one type of pollen on each receptive spadix. I have 19 seeds in this group.
Then I prepare the nursery. I like to use empty egg boxes. All you do is label them with the ovule parent (or both parents if you know), punch big holes in the bottom of each cubicle, and fill halfway with damp moss
Anthurium vittarifolium produces ONE seed per berry. Some other species make 2, and in rare instances, 3. To obtain the true seed, you need to remove it from the berry by gently squeezing it between your fingers onto a paper towel. Inside the berry it is suspended in a medium called mesocarp gel. Some people wash this gel off. I never do. It does not seem to matter
Then gently put the hard seed into a little nest of moss. I usually put 2 seeds per cubicle.
The outer berry shells can be tossed
Then once you have them all in nests, cover with a small amount of damp moss. That's really it.
If you are going to do this indoors, a lot of people close the lid, and put the entire box on a heat mat. I just leave the lid open and stick it out in the greenhouse.
These are some that have been germinating and emerging over the past 2 weeks
And these are a few months old and have already been moved to a soil flat. They are ready now to be potted up separately, grown out, and watched to see what characteristics they might display! Its like Cracker Jacks....you never know....
