365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Tickling The Akebias
Day 209: Last year, I successfully cross-pollinated my two Akebia vines, but only in one direction. I lifted pollen from the anthers of the white varietal and fertilized the female purple flowers. The male purple flowers never developed pollen to transfer back to the white stigmas. As a result, only the purple-flowered plant bore fruit. After making several attempts to convince myself that the pith was even remotely edible, I decided that the plants provided better service as novelty vines. Trust me on this, the fruit was nasty. That said, the experiment was interesting, so I've decided to repeat the process this year. So far, I have been able to lift pollen only from the white-flowered plant. No pollen has developed on the purple anthers, making me wonder if the male flowers are sterile. My observations have been somewhat hampered by rain, so it's possible that a few days of warm weather may generate pollen formation, but this may not occur while the female white flowers are receptive.
Labels:
botany,
cross-pollination,
Five-leaf Akebia,
garden
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