Tuesday 15 April 2008

Propagation - seed sowing

What with the cool spring I've been rather tardy in sowing seed this year, but I've got round to sowing 15 batches of Eumalvas.

1) Malva australiana, of a strain originally collected in New South Wales
2) Malva australiana, of a strain originally collected in Western Australia, or at least sold by a West Australian seed company.
3) Malva pusilla, of a strain originally collected in Champaign, Illinois
4) Malva parviflora, of a strain originally collected in Victoria, Australia
5) Malva nicaeensis
6) Malva nicaeensis (a pale flowered form)
7) Malva sylvestris Hinsley 53 [1] x linnaei Davis s.n. (strain Brythone)
8) Malva sylvestris Hinsley 53 [1] x linnaei Davis s.n. (strain P/1)
9) Malva arborea [3] 'Variegata' x australiana
10) Malva arborea 'Variegata' x durieui
11) Malva arborea 'Variegata' x linnaei Davis s.n. (strain P/3)
12) Malva arborea Davis s.n. [2] x sylvestris Hinsley 60 [4]
13) Malva sylvestris 'Mystic Merlin' x durieui
14) Malva sylvestris 'Mystic Merlin' x durieui
15) Malva sylvestris 'Mystic Merlin' x durieui

Numbers 7-9 and 13-15 are old batches of seed from which hybrid plants have been successfully raised in past years. Numbers 9-12 are seed from last year's attempts to produce hybrids and may turn out to be just Malva arborea - while Malva arborea is not mechanically self-compatible in the way the small-flowered speciesa are, previous attempts to produce hybrids using this as the seed parent have produced Malva arborea.

[1] Hinsley 53 was a small-flowered, nearly male-sterile, selection of Malva sylvestris 'Mystic Merlin'.
[2] collected in Cornwall
[3] better known as Lavatera arborea
[4] Hinsley 60 is a hybrid between a wild-collection (Hinsley 3), and a cultivated form thought to be 'Bibor Felho'.

Saturday 5 April 2008

April Comment Thread

For general comments and questions related to Malvaceae from anyone.