Friends, I have this solitary pleiospilos, I don't have any more pleiospilos of the same species or another and a year ago it divided into two, but it didn't produce seeds. This year it seems it will produce seeds but I don't know if it is self-fertile because it is next to the faucarias that were also blooming at the same time and every time I checked there were wasps wallowing in the flowers.
Do you think it is self-fertile or some cross with faucaria? 🌱
In the second photo, the plant on the upper right is not a faucaria but it has not flowered either.
by ExpensiveNote6031
2 Comments
I have no idea what’s going on but how weird and cool!! I hope someone can give you answers!
A cross with Faucaria is possible, as the mesemb radiation is recent, so they’re all close relatives, but it’s far more likely that Faucaria pollen has triggered self-fertilisation
I don’t really understand the biological mechanism, but it’s well-catalogued in mesembs. You can induce self-fertilistion by pestering the flower with pollen from another plant or, occasionally, the same plant. I’ve seen Hammer discuss this in the Art of Mesembs. He actually offers a few choice pollen donors for such a task. Seems to work better if you’re consistently trying it day after day.
Lithops are more my forte, and I’m aware a few cultivars arose from self-fertilisation using the plant’s own pollen. It also means some of the hybrid cultivars out there are probably just selfed offspring, too.
I’d assume wind or bugs were successful in cross-pollination. Let’s hope for hybrids, but expect Pleiospilos…