New hybrid - B. 'Goliath' x guehoi

[cindy]

Hi everyone,

I will be sharing the progress of the new Byblis hybrid in this thread. Enjoy! ;D

Parents
B. 'Goliath' - bore the fruits; over 120cm tall before the wind broke it into two; as a single stem until about 85cm in height when branching took place
B. guehoi (A) - pollen used; branched very early and produced lots of flowers

Out of 100 seeds that were sowed, 70 germinated since 7 Oct 2011...with about 50% germinated within the first week.

The seeds were sowed in GA3 for 24hrs and sowed on a mixture of peat/sand/LFS.


When the seedlings are about 1-2cm tall, they are transplanted into pure LFS.




Assorted seedlings in pure LFS and peat/sand/LFS.










p.s. The hybrid seeds will be made available to ICPS members in the near future!

[cindy]

Hi everyone,

Just a clarification for the following pic. The seedlings in the peat/sand mix are the first to germinate. Each of them was transplanted into LFS and subsequently the whole clump is then moved into the thumb pot. The peat/sand mix is just a cover for the ugly greenish LFS on the surface. Peat/sand is not a better media.

[bluemax]

So very cool, Cindy! ;D 'Good photo-documentation of such gem-like little plants. I'm looking forward to much more!

- Mark

[cindy]

The seeds germinated last month on the 7th. Today is the 7th...exactly one month.

The largest seedling stands at 2.5" tall and 2.25" wide.

[Not a Number]

Some of the presumed hybrid of B. 'Goliath' x guehoi from Cindy's seed batches. There seems to quite a bit of variability in size and amount of branching. Flowers appear to be similar between plants. As of yet I have not observed any pulvinus.

The plants are rather fragile with very week stem bases, perhaps due to the lack of the sultry climate of Singapore. These may have fared better if I germinated them later in the year rather than the dead of winter in Los Angeles.

I have been so far unsuccessful in getting pollen release. Lacking a tuning fork I tried using a forceps as a tuning fork, scrubbing the anthers vigorously with a small paint brush, squeezing the anthers with forceps and buzzing them with a battery powered Oral B toothbrush. Perhaps the pollen sacks were not ripe, a higher frequency is required or the hybrid does not produce pollen.

Plant 2


Plant 1



Plant 3


Plant 1


Plant 2

[Brian Barnes]

Hello NAN,

Gently remove a few of the anthers and split them in two with a razor. Let the two halves air dry for about 15 mins. Then using forceps, gently tap/rub the anther (the cut side) onto the flower/ stigma of another plant. Check for stigma coverage via magnifier. In your first flower pic, the anthers look nice and ripe.

Should work...let us know.

Brian

[Not a Number]

Hi Brian

This worked as I was able to see pollen grains after slicing open the pollen sacks on the anther. Whether the stigma was receptive or the presumed hybrids even fertile remains to be seen. Fortunately there are multiple flowers from which to try.

-Warren

[Brian Barnes]

Hi Warren,

Good!

A receptive Byblis stigma will almost look like a miniature Drosera lamina under magnification. The receptive stigma "hairs" will almost look mucilaginous and will be slightly sticky in nature. Pollen will adhere very easily if the stigma is receptive. In my conditions, stigmas are usually receptive around the third day after the flower initially opens.

Happy Growing,

Brian

[Not a Number]

Some follow up shots:





The above flower differs from the others, this is from the tallest plant (~18 inches / ~46 cm) on the left pictured above

Check for pulvini




I attempted pollination using the method suggested by Brian Barnes. If you look closely you can see pollen grains on the stigma:


I looks like this may bear fruit:




And finally pulvini!




Cindy requested a bit more detail so here they are:
B. guehoi "B"


hybrid (branching - very early)

hybrid (non-branching)

hybrid (tall, non-branching, with non-overlapping petals)


hybrid (short with overlapping flowers same plant as earlier pictures)

[Not a Number]

The one tall plant is showing off its 'Goliath' heritage. Currently 23" (58.4 cm) tall:

[Brian Barnes]

Nice plants NaN,

Definitely showing the definitive traits of B. 'Goliath'. Especially it's trademark feature...pulvini!

Happy Growing,

Brian

[Not a Number]

A couple of the pods finally ripened and split open. Here is some of the seed (1mm grid):

[Not a Number]

It seems like even the petals have glands on them:


Here's a link to a larger resolution version (click on thumbnail)


Some crops, you can see glands on both sides of the petals

[Not a Number]

Comparison of flowers: B. guehoi (left) and the presumed hybrid B. 'Goliath' × guehoi - magnification roughly the same.

[Not a Number]

I treated some seed with 1000ppm GA3 for 24 hours. Then sowed the seed on finely chopped long fibre sphagnum, covered the cup and placed it in my tropical tank (83F+ during the day). Germination started 3 days later.

The seeds are viable.