Eranthis 2014

[Robert]

Hi Robert,

like almost all Ranunculaceae the seeds are ephemeral, you need to sow them as early as possible. If you get old/dry seeds you should soak them for 24h in lukewarm water and sow them then. You'll get some germination in the following couple of years.

Wim

Thank you so much!

All I need is to have a few seeds germinate. We are extremely isolated here, with no source for buying established plants. I think that I might have some seed arriving from the NARGS seed exchange and can give the method a try.

Thank so much again!

[Leena]

like almost all Ranunculaceae the seeds are ephemeral, you need to sow them as early as possible. If you get old/dry seeds you should soak them for 24h in lukewarm water and sow them then. You'll get some germination in the following couple of years.

Thank you from me, also. I just received exciting (for me) Eranthis seed from SRGC seed exchange, I hope I get some seeds to germinate.

[YT]

Eranthis pinnatifida, from Nariwa, Takahashi-shi, Okayama. This is someting different from normal one, sepals are narrower and increased.

[chris]

Eranthis from seed,

[Alan_b]

With the Eranthis hyemalis cultivars, how much attention is paid to distinguishing the parent from its seedlings?  My 'Schwefelglanz' has now produced some seedlings which, to my inexperienced eyes, look the same as the parent.  But coming to Eranthis by way of Galanthus I would not dare to call them 'Schwefelglanz' even when they appear to have 'come true'. 

[Brian Ellis]

Some of them do come true and I think (?) 'Schwefelglanz' is one, however, talking to Joe on Sunday he said that my 'Euan Bunclerk' seedlings would probably only have 5% coming true.

[Maggi Young]

The question of cultivars breeding true and the consequent naming of their progeny is one that causes quite a bit of confusion.   

There used to be guidelines which said that if the resultant seedlings  showed a comparison  to the  cutlivar of  =/- 10 per cent , then they could carry the cultivar name - that was clearly a rather problematic rule, since it would only take a few of generations  for the seedlings to be a LONG WAY from the original cultivar and still be  being given that name. 

I'm not sure what the "rule" is now  - perhaps the answer may lie somewhere in the 206 pages of this paper :
INTERNATIONAL CODE OF NOMENCLATURE  FOR CULTIVATED PLANTS  (ICNCP or Cultivated Plant Code)  incorporating the Rules and Recommendations for naming plants in cultivation  -

http://www.actahort.org/chronica/pdf/sh_10.pdf  - I don't know, I haven't time to study it!

[David Nicholson]

............................................... I don't know, I haven't time to study it!

Why ever not? 

[Maggi Young]

Why ever not? 

I made a New Year's Resolution not to spend more than twelve hours a day on SRGC "Stuff" - am trying hard to stick to it! 

[Alan_b]

Rules are one thing but I was more interested in what the people who distribute these cultivars do.  If I buy a Schwefelglanz, can I be sure it has been propagated by division of the original corm or could it be a seedling that looked similar? 

[Alan_b]

I had never noticed before quite how tall Eranthis hyemalis plants are capable of growing.  ~10 cm + 7.6 cm for the case of the tape measure.

[Robert]

Rules are one thing but I was more interested in what the people who distribute these cultivars do.  If I buy a Schwefelglanz, can I be sure it has been propagated by division of the original corm or could it be a seedling that looked similar? 

Alan,

I'm not much into rules either. In my world I can do whatever I like. When saving seed for seed exchanges I often designate my seed as F2 ,F3. etc as to how far removed the seed line is removed from the original cultivar. I sometimes put a lot of effort into creating a stable, true breeding strain out of a clonal cultivar. An example is Lupinus albifrons; the best forms are rooted from cuttings. It is easy to inbreed lupines and generally a stable strain can be created without a lot of effort.

I'm somewhat vexed that when I offer, and label as such, a true breeding line, that the seed is not label as such in the seed list. It is very different from open pollinated non-isolated seed.

Home gardener as well as professionals seem to have all sorts of different practices. This is fine. However, it can be very helpful to know if you are getting a clone, a seed strain or something else.

Good luck.

[WimB]

As far as the rules go:

"2.12 An assemblage of individual plants grown from seed derived from uncontrolled pollination may form a cultivar when it meets the criteria laid down in Art. 2.3 and when it can be distinguished consistently by one or more characters even though the individual plants of the assemblage may not necessarily be genetically uniform. " "for example: Ex. 9. When seed is sown of the yellow-fruited cultivar Viburnum opulus ‘Xanthocarpum’, a proportion of the resulting seedlings is indistinguishable from the parent plant; such progeny is to be treated as being part of the same cultivar."

Anyhow, some Eranthis come 100% true from seed (like Schwefelglanz', 'Hafod' and 'Moonlight') and the seedlings are sold as being the same cultivar. Others in other percentages (Like 'Euan Bunclark' (5%) and 'Zitronenfalter' (50%)), and the seedlings that came true of those are sold as the same cultivar too.

[Brian Ellis]

Well, I know my seeds of 'Euan Bunclark' are from a really reliable source, so I shall make sure that if none come true (there were only a few seeds) they are not passed on.  It will be a pity as I know a couple of people who would have been delighted with a little present.  I obviously need to get seed of 'Moonlight' as I have not seen plants for sale.

[Hans J]

A general question :

Is Eranthis hyemalis self fertil ?

Thanks
Hans