I received from John Hunter a few years back , a small bulb from one of the many crosses he had done using pollen from N. viridiflorus. The best known of these is the beautiful ‘EMERALD SEA’ which has been a very useful parent for many . The fertility of E. S. has opened up the breeding of many mixed jonquilla and tazetta hybrids but often the problem has been in continuing this fertility into the next generations. The cross that John sent me was CERES – x – viridiflorus.
The flowers in shape are not dissimilar to E S ; however they are not as multi headed and certainly not as clean a white colour. There was a dozen stems flowering ; – only one was a double header. They all had there heads well down and had a distinct green cast before opening. John suggested that they may be fertile and in 2010. I crossed a flower with a very early ( but rather rough) redcup seedling. The seedlings were a little neglected in the years in a poly tray but recently I noticed a few buds and now have three seedlings flowering .
The yellow was the first and is clearly the best, the other two buds had a green cast at opening and are a muddy off – white.
John,
Take these as a step forward in your breeding programme. Remember that, as a cut flower grower, viridiflorus is giving amazing vase life and this could be a real advantage for you in NZ.
Dave
John – What is the advantage of growing in Styrofoam boxes?