There are hundreds of true species of Bromeliads that have been found in the wild and many of these or their progeny are in Collections. However, they will evolve in a different pattern to their "brothers" and "sisters" in habitat.
There are some very beautiful true species and you could have a varied collection just from these. You can have 1cm midgets to 10 metre giants. You can have green, spotted, or striped leaves. You can have an inflorescence of 100 flowers or just one. What a variety!
Are you still toying with the idea of hybridising "just for fun"?
It can put you in the class of the Ginger Tom next door OR even worse put you in a class BELOW the birds and the bees. Remember that in the wild the birds and the bees do exactly what the flowers want them to do!
Do you still want to hybridise? What do you want to achieve?
The good hybridist will go down in history and a good hybridist has a definite goal.
Are you looking for?
Hardiness
Compact growth
Broader leaves
Better markings
Larger inflorescence
Scented flowers
Simply crossing two plants that happen to be flowering simultaneously, and hoping for the best, is a hit and miss operation but practised by many.
It takes a few years from the act of pollination to when you can clearly discern the characteristics of the progeny. A serious hybridist will have both parentage (or a code to cover the same problem) on the label as the seedlings are growing up. When they start to flower the decision is made as to which are to be given cultivar names and the rest destroyed.
REMEMBER it is possible for the hybridist to leave this Earth before the big event, and for most of us memory cannot be relied upon.
Humans are required by Law to register their children soon after birth and they are given names for identification purposes. As life progresses, your name becomes very important to you. You respond eagerly if your name is mentioned in a praiseworthy fashion. You respond warily when it is mentioned in a threatening manner. In fact your name is YOU and how you are recognised.
If you go to the trouble of bringing a new plant into this world then surely it deserves a name too.
When you are in a situation which needs formal identification of yourself you have a photograph taken whether for your Passport or Driver’s licence. Plants should have the same privilege.
Why bother to name hybrids when we doubt the parentage?
Ever since Linnaeus introduced us to the binomial system, plants have moved from genus to genus and species to species as each botanist saw similarities or differences. Only when several botanists agree does the name remain fairly static. As gardeners we have the job of matching a plant with a description. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we don’t. However, once we name a hybrid that name follows that plant irrespective of name changes of its parents.
The same theory would follow a renaming or change of emphasis by botanists. An example of this could be Neoregelia sarmentosa and Neoregelia chlorosticta. These days they are treated as separate species but a few years ago, one was considered a variety of the other. In this case a change may need to be made to the grex name to allow for the split, although I would suggest that the cultivar names should remain. That of course is in the future and for others to solve. I believe it is simpler to leave in the records the parentage as known to the hybridist, rather than keep changing as name changes to the parents occur. Secondly, there is always doubt that the hybridist had the name correct for the plants used in the first place!
In any event the continued use of a formula indicates that you are referring to a grex and not an individual plant and only individual plants can have a cultivar name. The only constant is the cultivar name, hence the importance of this principle.
If you are proud enough of your hybrid then you should name it. If you are not proud of it then you should destroy all progeny.
How should you tell others about your achievement ?
1. The ideal way is to register it or
2. Submit it for entry in a list such as on this Web Site, or
3. Give details to your local Newsletter.
To put it very simply, the pollen ( male ) must come in contact with the stigma lobes ( female ) for fertile seed to be produced.
Pollen must be available when the stigma lobes are receptive.
Just two reasons why self fertilisation may not take place, although there are many others.
1. Pollen may be available before the stigma lobes are receptive.
2. Pollen may be available after the stigma lobes are receptive.
Just two reasons why species provide pollen for the same species.
1. Flowers would generally open at the same time of day or period.
2. Pollinators can be very specialised in which flowers they visit.
It would therefore seem to be a very general plan that the plant "wants" to set seed, but " realises " that its best option for having adaptability is to seek cross- fertilisation but within what humans would call species.
If for example, a change in climatic conditions occurs, then it is possible for another closely related species to flower at the same time and, if cross- fertilisation occurs, a hybrid is born.
If there are sufficient of these happenings and the hybrids have the ability to cross pollinate by themselves and in comparative isolation, then a new species would evolve.
Suffice to say that Bromeliads are still evolving in the wild.
Perhaps you may wonder why, with all these restrictions, some plants are self fertile. Admittedly it is ideal for cross- fertilisation to occur but if fertilisation does not occur, then some plants do the next best thing. The stamens pull closer to the stigma lobes as the flower fades and if both are still fertile, pollination can occur. For a more detailed look at hybridisation and the whys and wherefores of genetic make up you are referred to Benzing’s Biology of Bromeliads.
Humans, in their zest for improving on nature are inclined to want to hybridise, that is artificially bring pollen of one species to the stigma lobes of another.
Some general rules that should help you decide whether your hybridising has been successful.
1. True species × same true species = same true species.
1a. True variety × same true variety = same true variety.
2. True species × Self ( own pollen) = same true species.
3. True species × another true species = F1 hybrid with consistent characteristics in each of the seedlings.
4. True species × Hybrid = F2 hybrid with inconsistent characteristics.
5. Hybrid × Hybrid = F3 hybrid with inconsistent characteristics.
6. Hybrid × Self (own pollen) = F2 hybrid with inconsistent characteristics.
7. Hybrid × same Hybrid = F2 hybrid with inconsistent characteristics.
An F1 hybrid gives hybrid vigour and an F2 hybrid the most variable offspring which diminishes as the number of the F increases.
If you do raise seedlings in bulk from one seed pod, the characteristics of the batch will lead you to what type the parents were. However, just to add another variable, some hybrids have been under cultivation so long that they act like a species. Many of the old Vriesea hybrids seem to be like this.
Some hybrids are sterile and it is impossible to get seed from them, while other hybrids are self- fertile. Seed obtained from 5, 6 and 7 above can produce some remarkable plants, but a large percentage of them are weak and therefore not worth growing.
To obtain a hybrid where you know which is the father and which is the mother, the flower intended to be the seed bearer must have its stamens removed before they become pollen bearing. The reason for this is obvious. However I know of few hybridists who do this and the reason is equally obvious; bromeliads are well known for their bracts and the emasculation of a flower would be a tricky business.
Action can be taken after the flower has actually opened. With billbergias, vrieseas and cryptanthus the stigma is exserted leaving the pollen anthers well below it and facilitating the removal of the pollen sacs. Aechmeas are the most difficult to pollinate with neoregelias coming a close second. The stamens which hold the pollen sacs, fold over the stigma like a dome. It is difficult to pull the stamens away (using a sharp pointed pair of tweezers) from the concealed stigma without dragging pollen on it. In some plants the petals also are closed over the stamens and pistil, so two barriers have to be breached before the pistil and its stamens are exposed.
The technique appears to be such that if the progeny are unlike the seed parent, then hybridisation has occurred! However, depending on how the pollen did its job or whether it came from different sources it would be possible to get self set seeds and hybrids in the same seed batch.
Hybrids in the accepted sense are rare in the "wild" because pollen is available at the , should we say, wrong time. This works against the Hybridist but can be solved by keeping pollen in a cold place such as a refrigerator. Little is known of the ideal temperature, or length of viability of the pollen.
When you have finally succeeded in doing all this, don’t spoil it by forgetting what you have done. Clearly mark the mother plant with a label showing the pollen donor, so that if seed eventuates you will know the parentage. If you have used more than one flower per mother plant such as Neoregelia then each flower will need to be marked. This can be done with a small triangular plastic tag carefully inserted between floral bract and ovary.
Hartman and Kester, Plant propagation: principles and practice . 3rd edition (Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, 1975) reveals
"Most kinds of pollen will remain viable for only a few days or weeks at warm temperatures, but many kinds can be preserved for several months to several years at low temperatures and relatively low humidity. Effective storage conditions are a combination of 10 to 50 percent relative humidity and a temperature of 0 to 10C. Moisture content of the pollen can be controlled by storing over a desiccant, such as calcium chloride or sulphuric acid. Some pollen - that of grasses for instance - is best stored at 90-100 percent relative humidity. Pollen can be effectively stored at about 18C, as in a home freezer"
Ingredients for the Home Pollen Preserver
1. Piece of paper, about 5cm square (Writing paper will do)
2. Small glass bottle (not plastic)
3. Absorbent material (Silica gel crystals from your local pharmacy)
Method A
Write name of pollen donor on paper.
Scrape pollen on to paper, fold carefully.
Place in freezer section and hope you don’t lose it!
Method B
Write name of pollen donor on paper.
Scrape pollen on to paper, fold carefully.
Place in bottle with silica gel crystals, screw on top.
Put in the "butter" compartment of your refrigerator.
If crystals turn pink, remove and replace with blue ones. The pink crystals can be changed to blue by drying such as in an oven.
In either method A or B, the stored pollen can be used without any "warm up" period.
Method B is recommended mainly because
1. You have a visual indication of whether mould/mildew has attacked the pollen rendering it useless.
2. It has been tried by Andrew Flower of New Zealand who pointed me in the right direction.
Now that you have gone to the trouble of preserving this pollen, what are you going to do with it? Dare I suggest that you try to preserve species , at least of the rarer kind, rather than just hybridise.
BILLBERGIA
Probably the easiest to hybridise because of the ease with which the stamens and stigma can be accessed. Most species of the Helicodea group are self-fertile but most of the other group are self-sterile!
CRYPTANTHUS
The stigma lobes are only receptive at certain times of the day. This is fairly consistent so careful observation can reward. Fertile pollen is most likely to be found in flowers in the very centre of the rosette whereas receptive stigma lobes are likely to be found in the axils.
NEOREGELIA
The centre needs to be on the dry side. Stigma usually receptive between 9am and 11am daily.
TILLANDSIA
There are some very interesting details given by Dr. Mark Dimmitt in BSI Journal 1990 pages 17-20, 72-80, 118-123.
In my experience very few hybrids in Tillandsia are an improvement on either parent especially in the grey leaved forms. Another big problem is the time it takes to reach maturity and deciding whether hybridisation did take place.
1. Pollen lands on the stigma lobe; a pollen tube emerges from the pollen grain and grows down through the tissue to reach the ovule and ultimately the egg (ie. there is not a "tube" prior to the pollen landing).
2. The pollen grain is composed of 2 or 3 cells called sperm, if 3 then the third plays a role in pollen tube growth or if 2 then 1 divides after germination at the pollen tube. The term "sperm" has slightly different meanings in plants and animals.
3. The sperm move down the pollen tube; the first fusing with the egg to form a zygote; the second fuses the polar nuclei to form primary endosperm nucleus, then divides rapidly (more so than the zygote) to form the nutritious tissue, endosperm. The developing embryo within the seed depends on the endosperm as its primary nutritional source.
4. Note: 1 pollen grain per egg so if a dirty brush is used the same seed pod can produce quite different progeny!
Few hybridists bother to do so which is a great pity.
However, they are not encouraged to do so. Those who do submit the specified form (At least those in Australia) receive no acknowledgement until eventually a listing is produced. The photograph is lost in archival records.
The Bromeliad Cultivar Registry may seem large at over 400 pages but when there are 1000 pages of registered Daffodils it shows we do not take registration seriously.
Let us look at a bit of history. In 1951 in the first Bromeliad Society Bulletin we read in "Objectives and Aims" that "Much hybridising can and will be done". Yes, much more hybridising was done but little attempt was made to record them. The first written advice was by Lyman B Smith in Flora Neotropica starting some 23 years later! The next on the scene was Victoria Padilla’s "International Check list" 1979. This was followed by Brian Smith’s private work "Manuscript of Bromeliad hybrids" in 1984. It is interesting that Brian had to go through the catalogues of plant retailers to find new names for his list such was the apathy toward registration. In 1991 we saw the Preliminary Listing by Don Beadle and finally in 1998 the Bromeliad Cultivar Registry again by Don Beadle.
This registration work is done by few people with , it appears, little encouragement or support from other sections of the BSI. Let me explain. The Cryptanthus Society only allow plants in their shows which are on their listing which is great incentive to the hybridist to register. This is not the case with the BSI. Secondly, the Judging classes conducted by the BSI stress the fact that Judges must have a good knowledge of the correct names of plants. How can this be if the hybrids entered are unknown to them?
BUT all is not doom and gloom. The year 2000 is close at hand and while we hope the millennium bug will not affect Bromeliads perhaps it may prompt us to review the past errors. With more and more people becoming computer literate could we not delegate the role of Assistant Registrar to the various Affiliated Societies. All you need is a photograph to be scanned into computer form and information about the plants name and its parentage, and the hybridist’s name entered into a Web site. The Registrar could oversee this operation making his or her job much easier. AND we would have a photograph of the Cultivar for all to see.