Ever thought about creating a hybrid plant?
This #FunFactsWithFox (new tag Iāll use to categorize these information overloads going forward) is inspired by @PlantyPlanter who asked the #GregGang how to cross-pollinate two different flowering species to create a new cultivar. In his particular case, the simple answer was āYou canātā. But why?
All living organism present on earth are categorized into different taxonomical groups and taxonomical hierarchy consist of a kingdom -phylum - class - order - family - genus - species
With his two plants in question (sea vetchling x solomans seal) the genus do not match, which is the bare minimum requirement for a successful hybrid. In the animal kingdom a dog x cat would not be successful. But a dog could mate with a wolf.
Letās dissect this āSea Vetchlingā aka Beach Pea.
Kingdom: Plant
Phylum: Vascular.
Plants in this division have special tissues for conducting water and minerals through the plant, not unlike our blood veins. However, the vascular phylum can also conduct products of photosynthesis. Humans cannot.
Class: Dicotyledons ā2 leavesā
Literal translation. Di-cotyledons = dual cotyledons. Wtf is a cotyledons you say?
These are the first leaves to appear from a seed when it has germinated. The sea vetchling is a part of larger of 2 divisions of flowering plants that produce 2 little baby leaves when it busts out of the seed.
Order: Fabales āBroad Beansā
A sub-group of flowering plants that includes families Fabaceae or legumes, quillajaceae, polygalaceae (milkwort) and Surianaceae
HALF WAY THERE!!!!
If youāre still reading, thanks!
As you can see from the Order group above it contains a lot of families. But some species of plants contain literally hundreds. Way too broad to narrow down compatible species to crossbreed with. There are approximately 805 known species of Fabales and of those 750 belong to the same family as our target plant, the Sea Vetchling.
Family: Fabaceae āLegumeā
This contains everything from alfalfa, chick peas, peanuts as well as our target plant which is nothing like the mentioned edibles above.
FINALLY! Letās get specific and filter out every species that is a vascular 2 leafed bean producing seedling not compatible with our target plant
Genus: Lathyrus
A rough translation from Dutch to English is ātall and thinā this is to be taken with a grain of salt, Iām not fluent by any means! Anyway, this is where the magic happens! Now we know what we have! A tall thin flowering bean plant š this genus contains 160 species that can successfully cross pollinate @PlantyPlanter
ā¦more on that in the comments below.
TLDR; Where does it all end?
Species: Lathyrus Japonicus
Japonicus is Latin for āJapaneseā so knowing everything above this species is literally known in the scientific world as:
A tall, thin Japanese bean plant that has 2 leaves when it sprouts and veins are visible in the leaves.
PHEW! Still with me? Hope someone learned something today about these wacky scientific names that actually make sense when you break it down.
#TodayILearned #science #PlantAddict
All living organism present on earth are categorized into different taxonomical groups and taxonomical hierarchy consist of a kingdom -phylum - class - order - family - genus - species
With his two plants in question (sea vetchling x solomans seal) the genus do not match, which is the bare minimum requirement for a successful hybrid. In the animal kingdom a dog x cat would not be successful. But a dog could mate with a wolf.
Letās dissect this āSea Vetchlingā aka Beach Pea.
Kingdom: Plant
Phylum: Vascular.
Plants in this division have special tissues for conducting water and minerals through the plant, not unlike our blood veins. However, the vascular phylum can also conduct products of photosynthesis. Humans cannot.
Class: Dicotyledons ā2 leavesā
Literal translation. Di-cotyledons = dual cotyledons. Wtf is a cotyledons you say?
These are the first leaves to appear from a seed when it has germinated. The sea vetchling is a part of larger of 2 divisions of flowering plants that produce 2 little baby leaves when it busts out of the seed.
Order: Fabales āBroad Beansā
A sub-group of flowering plants that includes families Fabaceae or legumes, quillajaceae, polygalaceae (milkwort) and Surianaceae
HALF WAY THERE!!!!
If youāre still reading, thanks!
As you can see from the Order group above it contains a lot of families. But some species of plants contain literally hundreds. Way too broad to narrow down compatible species to crossbreed with. There are approximately 805 known species of Fabales and of those 750 belong to the same family as our target plant, the Sea Vetchling.
Family: Fabaceae āLegumeā
This contains everything from alfalfa, chick peas, peanuts as well as our target plant which is nothing like the mentioned edibles above.
FINALLY! Letās get specific and filter out every species that is a vascular 2 leafed bean producing seedling not compatible with our target plant
Genus: Lathyrus
A rough translation from Dutch to English is ātall and thinā this is to be taken with a grain of salt, Iām not fluent by any means! Anyway, this is where the magic happens! Now we know what we have! A tall thin flowering bean plant š this genus contains 160 species that can successfully cross pollinate @PlantyPlanter
ā¦more on that in the comments below.
TLDR; Where does it all end?
Species: Lathyrus Japonicus
Japonicus is Latin for āJapaneseā so knowing everything above this species is literally known in the scientific world as:
A tall, thin Japanese bean plant that has 2 leaves when it sprouts and veins are visible in the leaves.
PHEW! Still with me? Hope someone learned something today about these wacky scientific names that actually make sense when you break it down.
#TodayILearned #science #PlantAddict
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@PlantyPlanter the top result in google when searching for āLathyrus Speciesā should give you about 47 common Lathyrus to consider for your outdoor garden. Many of these produce colorful flowers and if you mutate it with a solid white flower youāll get some interesting variegated patterns. Thereās no shortage of potential bean combos for you to explore.
@ForFoxSake Sounds to me like youāre creating a āFranken-Plant ā. Grafting is a challenging gardening technique. It involves taking two different varieties of a particular plant and joining them together to create new āFrankensteinā plants that may perform better. If you are looking for a new challenge in your polytunnel garden, grafting your own fruit trees and other plants could be something to consider.
@ForFoxSake You are amazing. Explained it better than all my instructors. Kudos to you! ššæš
Im sure youāve received all the pings but @PlantyPlanter You have to read this!! š¤©
Im sure youāve received all the pings but @PlantyPlanter You have to read this!! š¤©
@Ms.Persnickety Iām helping a fellow Greg user better understand the nuances of creating āFranken-plantsā I have only had one successful graft but to be honest havenāt really tried much since trees arenāt my thing. But I did get a top cut from a willow to attach to a rooted branch so it doesnāt get much taller than it already is. Itās back there on the table
@ForFoxSake That looks like a neat plant collection on your deck, they look happy getting a bit of a showerā¦!