Re: Propagation/Germination
- Subject: Re: Propagation/Germination
- From: W* B*
- Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:27:42 -0700 (PDT)
Castrospermum australae grew in the garden at the Marston House in San
Diego for well over 50 years (late 1920s until early 1990s) until the city
parks department (in charge of the garden) had to remove it.
Does anyone know how long-lived these trees are in their native habitat?
The seeds of this tree were collected in Hawai'i sometime in the late
1920s by the son-in-law of the owner while he had been a summer minister
in a church in Hawai'i. He had become so fond of the tree that he smuggled
the seeds into California (causing a conscience crisis, but not much of
one) so that he could grow it. He, however, lived in Berkeley, CA which he
considered too cold a place for the tree, so he took it to his
father-in-law to plant in the garden in San Diego. There was concern that
the seeds would be hard to germinate, but that was not the case.
Subsequently, family members have been able to germinate seeds in their
kitchen windowsills without too much difficulty, in ordinary potting soil,
making sure that the soil did not dry out.
Elly Bade
Berkeley, California
On Wed, 18 Jul 2001, William Glover wrote:
> On 7/03/01 5:41 PM Nan Sterman (nsterman@plantsoup.com) wrote:
>
> >Can anyone tell me how to propagate a coral tree (Erythrina sp) from
> >cuttings?
>
> Erythrina variegata (syn. E. indica) is the most commonly seen species in
> the Caribbean and is easily propagated by potting up branches 12-24
> inches long from which most of the leaves have been stripped. Just keep
> warm (80F or higher) and lightly moist.
>
>
> On 7/07/01 10:46 AM John Schlesinger (johnsaia@dnai.com) wrote:
>
> >Does anyone know germination conditions for seeds of Pandorea pandorana?
>
> A ubiquitous plant hereabouts and usually propagated from cuttings. But
> easily started from seeds lightly covered and kept moist and warm.
> Germination is usually rapid.
>
>
> But always exercise patience with seeds. While visiting the Nairobi
> Arboretum in December 1999 I collected a number of seeds - the size of an
> English walnut - of Castrospermum australae (Moreton Bay Chestnut) that
> were lying on the ground under the tree. This is a beautiful
> orange-flowered tree from eastern Australia that grows to some size. Is
> this being grown by any Med gardeners? Or any sightings outside of
> Australia and Kenya?
>
> I gave several seeds to friends here who lost patience after a few
> months, but one of the seeds I kept germinated a few weeks ago a year and
> a half after it was potted up. This is the record for slow germination to
> date, but I am still of hope that one if not both of the two seeds -
> weighing more than 25 pounds each - of Lodoicea maldivica, the
> celebrated Coco de Mer (or Double Coconut) brought back from Praslin
> Island in the Seychelles and planted in the ground here early last year
> will germinate before this year is up. The coco de mer is a slow learner
> in every respect and viable seeds can take two years to germinate.
>
> Nice to be back in a warm country after a few weeks on the cold and
> lonely Canadian prairie.
>
>
> William Glover
> Nevis, West Indies
>
>
