Remusatia vivipara

[metalfan]

OK I admit it I swiped these seeds. There that's out of the way. My daughter was here a month or so ago and we went to the local botanical garden. Some of their Remusatia vivipara had set seeds that had fallen onto the ground. They were still really fresh so I scooped up a few. Germinated them, now have some little babies! Don't judge me, I don;t walk through the gardens with clippers like some folks do.

[Darold Petty]

You can atone for this crime by sending me seeds when your plants produce some ! 

[metalfan]

Sure! Be glad to! I used to know people who took clippers in their pockets to places like Fairchild, Marie Selby, even Walmart and Loews. Plant kleptos. But when seeds are going to be wasted on the ground that's a different story as far as I am concerned.

[tropicbreeze]

The problem I have in botanic gardens is sometimes plant seeds jump into my pockets demanding asylum. What can I do, I'm a soft touch.

Remusatia vivipara is a native here but in fairly specific habitats. They like sheltered sites in sandstone country, particularly growing around Drynaria quercifolia (ferns) on rock faces. They're both deciduous so cope well with the long hot dry season.

I grew some in the garden for a few years before they disappeared, not sure what happened to them. More recently got some from a friend so hoping they'll be more successful. They're very widespread, from Africa across southern Asia to Australia. Growing requirements might vary depending on provenance.

These are some in habitat, and below those my current plants.

[metalfan]

Yours are much prettier than ours LOL. (Aren't all things from Australia prettier?) Yours have more distinct veining. These are the plants that my seeds came from.

[tropicbreeze]

Looking more closely, the veining in the ones in habitat is more distinctive than my cultivated ones. I wonder if that's environmental. The pH in a sandstone environment is pretty low, as is the rain they'd get. My potting soil is probably about neutral but my water is around pH 8. Mine should be coming out of dormancy soon, I'll have to try and get their pH down and see if that affects them.

[metalfan]

That would be good to know I like that darker veining I could give them acidic fertilizer like azalea fert or just spread some old oak leaves around them to lower pH

[tropicbreeze]

You're going off season now but mine should emerge if I start to introduce water slowly. I've got swamp trees that produce a lot of acidic mulch. A tea made from that should do, I can check the pH. One pot can be for the low pH water and the other two as controls, with the usual water. High pH water might be the reason my earlier plants disappeared.

[Tomas]

These are bulbills that you collected, I have never seen a flower on this plant

Tomas

[Palm crazy]

I grew this plant about 15 years ago and it was easy and actually semi-hardy.  After about three years in a pot, the slugs got it. Lovely plant for the exotic garden. 

Edited September 9, 2018 by Palm crazy

[metalfan]

3 hours ago, Tomas said:

These are bulbills that you collected, I have never seen a flower on this plant

Tomas

Hope mine get this big! But no that were seeds. Seeds encased in the red tropical over covering. Looked like Anthurium seeds. Had to pop the red sac and push it down into sphagnum moss. The seeds sprouted tiny plants like any other seed

 

[Tomas]

Wow, I have never heard about it to flower. Here are the bulbills, the "viviparous" way of reproducing

[metalfan]

No that isn't what it had LOL. This isn't a photo of the seeds I collected from the Remusatia, but these were what they looked like almost. This was really the weirdest thing I have ever seen....this is an Amorphophallus that actually had this clump of seeds coming out from around its stem. I have never seen that. I scarfed a few but they didn't germinate 

[BeyondTheGarden]

Ilove finding cool old threads.  I purchased 5 bulbils off ebay, which is always a roll of the dice, but all 5 germinated.  Or sprouted, whatever bulbils do. 

Strange how very tiny they are. I don't think they'll be full sized this year.