Pachypodium succulentum
Date: 1997 May 17
Thin-tubed striped flower
Date: 1997 May 17
The hybrid plant has flowers part-way between its parents. It has a tapered tube and faint stripes. The parent plants are very similar apart from the difference in the flowers.
I use a stiff bristle from a paint brush to pollinate Pachypodium. It is perhaps easiest if you remove the petals from a flower while practising. The bristle is pushed down to the base of the flower tube through one of the 5 slits in the conical structure in the centre of the flower. When withdrawn, it will slide into the centre of the structure and hopefully come away with some sticky nectar and pollen attached.
Repeat in another flower and hope that some of the pollen rubs off. If successful, a pair of large seed-horns will develop, eventually opening to reveal the seeds with parachutes attached.
Perhaps there is a chance of self-pollination, but it appears not to have happened in this case. I have succeeded in making this cross in both directions.
Date: 1997 May 17
Bell-shaped flower without stripes
