Thursday, August 24, 2006

Flowering Lophophora williamsii – III

My Lophophora williamsii (SB 854; Starr Co, Tx) graft has gone on a flowering spree and is currently flashing its 7th and 8th flower this season.

Flowering Lophophora williamsii
Flowering Lophophora williamsii

Like other species of Lophophora, L. williamsii has sensitive stamens, closing around the style when touched.

L. williamsii stamens closing around the style
L. williamsii stamens closing around the style

In this flower the anthers are actually brushing the stigmas when the stamens react to a touch, i.e. the thigmotropic reaction will assist the flower to self-pollinate. I have to test if this is sufficient to pollinate the flower (in a previous post I also wondered if it was necessary to manually self-pollinate the Lophophora williamsii (SB 854; Starr Co, Tx) flowers or if they could cope without any help ;-)

For comparison you can check a photo of thigmotropic behavior in Lophopohora jourdaniana. In this case the stamens fold in below the stigmas, apparently not touching them.

The fruits (or berries, pods, whatever;-) from the plants first two flowers this season have just appeared.

Lophophora williamsii fruits
Lophophora williamsii fruits

I’m looking forward to see how many of the flowers will actually result in a fruit.

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3 comments:

  1. I grow lophophora Williamsii for 4 years, and i'm now starting to graft some of my 1year plants.

    Interesting your work. Have you tried with diferent stoks? I'm trying that, inclusive with Opuntia.

    If you decide to coment, r_estiveira@hotmail.com

    Good work

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  2. The majority of my grafts are on Trichocereus stock but I also have a handful growing on Pereskiopsis stock. Earlier this year I experimented with Opuntia but haven't had the time to post on it yet. If you have any hints on Opuntia grafting I would very much like to hear about it.

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  3. My peyote has self-pollinated at least 3 times due to the natural reaction of the stamens to touch and find it to be a very helpful method, as the flowers are incredibly small and delicate. The device, much like a Venus Fly Trap, will wear out after constant tinkering, but if left for a day you can touch the stamens again and they will curl.

    ste@renegatus.com if you wish to contact me.

    ReplyDelete

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