Hi, everybody,
When I was at John Reed’s this past year, I saw 2 different kinds of seed pods on naturalized N.t.t. — some were jumbo, oblong and squarish, the other form was much smaller and round, not really circular round, but still round-ish. These were all in the same patch, all growing and re-seeding together. I saw the patch in bloom, and there were a couple of stems with 4 big flowers, would be shown in standards, not miniatures, but the vast majority of them had 2-3 flowers, I’d say. They just looked like adorable N.t.t. When the capsules split open, the larger seedpods had somewhat larger seeds. Not as much difference in size as I expected, but some difference. There appeared to be no difference in the number of seeds per capsule. 20-30 ish, I’d say. There were midseason and late pods of each size.
Is there an explanation for this? You don’t suppose he has tetraploid versions mixed in somehow, do you? Every single stem had seed pods, and it was my understanding that if tetras had been mixed in, the resultant progeny would be triploids, but those triploids probably would not set seed. Or is this even true?
I know there are a lot of N.t.t. growers on Daffnet, and I thought I’d pick your brains. Sorry no photo – and it would have been so easy for me to take one, too! :(
Thanks,
Suzy
Suzy
Narcissus triandus triandus comes in a myriad of forms and sizes – from very miniature to very large forms that are comparable to standards in size. I have attached a few photos to show the diversity in forms that we grow. They flower over a considerable period but the giant form tends to flower in late to very late season. The preferred exhibition form flowers in early to mid-season. The seed does not vary as much as you would expect but the seed on the very miniature forms is quite tiny.
The diversity in forms probably reflects different locations in their native habit although it is quite possible that various forms could grow in similar locations but flower at different times. Rafa could elaborate on this aspect of NTT. As you can see from the photos there is a lot of variation in colour and in form besides size. There is also diversity in pistils. Some have extruded pistils that make pollinating a dream while the other form has the pistil down the tube so you have to perform surgery to pollinate. For hybridising I certainly prefer the extruded pistil form.
Nice! Thanks. I was wondering if the big ones were/could be tetraploid, but it sounds like variation is just part and parcel of the species.
THanks, Graham.
Suzy