Hmmm I think growing in vitro's cheating! But if it works, you can't
knock it... Although I'd love to take you up on the offer of a
seedling, Jan, I don't think Customs would like it (and I'd probably
kill it anyway...)
>Sir Taylor, a most interesting thing about the seeds of _D.peltata
>auriculata_ you sent me, from Mornington Peninsula. Last year they did
>wonderfully, producing many plants and subsequently many tubers. This year
>only one tuber sprouted. Surprised by this, I poked around in the soil and
>found a big fat earthworm. I thought earthworms only ate decaying matter,
>not live tubers---maybe all the tubers died for some mysterious reason?
>Anyway, I am reduced from 10^6 to 1 plant from you. What is particularly
>strange, is that unlike any of my other _D.peltata auriculata_ or
>_D.p.peltata_ plants (I have 6 varieties), this plant emerged directly
>from the ground as an erect stem, bipassing a rosette stage. Also, it
>branches very heavily, much more than my other plants. What a strange
>varmint.
Our pots suffered a similar fate a year or two ago (although I didn't see any
wormsigns) where we lost a large number of tubers over dormancy. I'm not sure
but maybe you had them too dry - one D. whittakerii tuber I had (in a zipseal
bag) shrivelled up, even with the addition of some humidity. If you can keep
you surviving plants alive, you should get enough seed to replace all 10^6 of
them ;-) I have also noticed the lack of rosette in my plants - but not all
of them. It is possible that there were 3 separate collection areas of the
parent plants (all on the M.Peninsula) but it is very unlikely that they are
different sub-sub-species. The branching on my plants always occurs a node
where a flower scape (penduncle, whatever) emerges, so the leaf stem of the
plant continues to "zig-zag" upwards. They may also produce 2 stems from a
node, but I can't remember - I'll let you know in a few months...
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| John Taylor [The Banshee] | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| rphjt@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au | Department of Applied Physics |
| MOKING IS A HEALTH HAZARD. | Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+