Jeffersonia

McDonough wrote:

Seedlings of J. diphylla are growing lustily, now I'm worried about being able to make a new woodland bed large enough to hold them all, the start of my "Jeffersonian woodland lawn".  In the overhead view (photo 1), you can see equally full flats of J. dubia in the back (center and to the left).

Like Rick, I wouldn't worry much! BTW, are the seedlings easy to plant out or do they sulk afterwards?

Propagation non-results:

You may remember that I wanted to divide a particularly wonderful J. dubia specimen.  Being apparently sterile, it's stems multiply vigorously, so I can easily afford loosing some.

When the leaves matured, I tried to cut six growing points off the side while leaving the plant undisturbed in the ground.  I cut vertically into the soil hoping I would get some roots along with the stems.  No dice.  This outer group of stems seemed to curl in, just under the soil surface, toward the center of the plant.  I think if I were to dig the the whole plant in the early spring (no, not going to do that!), the shape of the top of the plant would look like a mushroom, with a constriction below the crown, but "exploding" at the top with a multitude of pips.  This is unlike the growth of a regular J. dubia nearby.

So I had four usable short stems,  and stripped all but two leaves per stem.  Then "planted" them in a vermiculite/peat mix, and enclosed them in a clear plastic bag in Nearing frame conditions.  The extra leaves were so stiff and non-wilting, that just for kicks, I tried to see if they might root. I treated them as one might when rooting a tropical begonia leaf, with perhaps a centimeter stem,  and the leaf laid flat on the vermiculite/peat surface, with the main veins cut with a razor blade.  All other rooting parameters were the same.

Neither method was successful.  But what was interesting to note was that the individual severed leaves actually lasted longer before withering than the stems!

A pity it didn't work! Did you try rooting hormone?

No I didn't, Trond.  That is yet another avenue to explore.  That and different times of the season.

Any thoughts on timing from anyone out there?

I forgot to mention on the pic of the cuttings you can see the withered flower stems if you you magnify the image.

I can recommend the nursery Yusawa-engei. I have ordered both plants and seeds from them. The plants travel all the way from Japan to Norway in very good condition!

Although the flowers of Jeffersonia are ephemeral they (both species) are indeed worth a place in a garden! The leaves are decorative too.
I have a small batch of seedlings now waiting for planting out later ;D

Thanks for the update Rick- I've posted a link to here from your
thread on the SRGC Forum from last year.  :)

Yes, best photos indeed, Mark!

I get almost as much enjoyment with my failures as with successes, especially when it comes to seeds.  When you said,
I'm not too familiar with how long you can moist pack [Jeffersonia dubia] seed before they'll start germinating on their own, or rotting
I may be able to provide some tangential experience.  Through more happenstance than planned and methodical regiment, this is my unofficial, non-scientific,  and inconclusive experience so far with a particulaar batch of dubia seeds.  Take from it what you will.  Edit: I thought these were Jeffersonia, but they are actually Allium triccocum

June 2011: collected J. dubia Allium triccocum seeds from my own plant. 
Immediately placed between moist paper towels at 65-80F.  (I don't have air conditioning).
They plumped even more into very dark, round balls.

August: the moist towels dried somewhat, to the point that a visible shrinking could be seen with the seeds.
After re-wetting, they returned to there previous size.

October: still no germination. Placed in fridge.

February 2012: Brought 65f.

May: Still no germination.  Placed back in fridge.

September: After forgetting about them, I took half the seed and planted them.  These are now spending the winter (and spring, if it ever comes) outside.  The other half is still in the fridge.  They look unchanged, still plump and still very firm.  This is a photo of them now:

April 2013

It's like Schrödinger's cat - they are either dead or alive; and you can't know before something happens ;D

Oh the HORROR !!!!!

My most excellent J.dubia has been eaten.  Eaten alive!

Dang varmints!  This part of the garden is the last to thaw, and when I did my initial garden cleaning, all the old petioles had been severed, just as mice do with lawn grass over winter, and all the buds gone. :'(
            27 April 2013
   
You can see a few buds left at the outer edges, where they would have been a little under and hidden.

Thankfully, a few more have emerged also, and all is not lost.
             8 May 2013
   

              PHEW !

[quote=Hoy]

It's like Schrödinger's cat - they are either dead or alive; and you can't know before something happens ;D

[/quote]

Something happened !!!

So to catch up on what had previously been going on with the Jeffersonia Allium triccocum seed I harvested in 2011, you can look at an earlier post in this thread here: https://www.nargs.org/comment/4409#comment-4409

Since then (April 2013), I just left them alone, kinda as a lost cause, and they stayed in their moist paper towel in a closed container and on a table next to the outside wall of the house.  They endured temps of 80 plus degrees F in summer, and temps as low as 45F nights this winter.  In early December there was still no activity.  But now...

The cool temps finally triggered germination, as normal.  I suppose that after the seeds' initial hydration, the drying up in 2011 must have put it into a very deep dormancy.

Incidentally, there are still three dormant seeds.

So now more investigation and questions....

I had assumed that with this kind of germination mode,

--- first a root would grow

--- a crown would establish

--- then the first true leaf would emerged from the crown

This is not right then, if I assume that the dark green part is a developing leaf.  Does anyone have any insight?

It appears there is a secondary root growing here, possibly indicating where the crown is....

I planted most of them, but kept a few for further examination.  Not really much change yet, but I have a little better pics.  It’s the limit of my pocket camera.  Every seedling has grown a secondary root.  I cut one of the ungerminated seeds as shown in the second pic.  The seed was still surprisingly hard.     Vertical marks are millimeters.

I had no doubt the seed was still alive.  I cut it because I thought I would easily see the two cotyledons.  But that's certainly not the case! 

I suppose only time will tell.  It was all so long ago, I won't even venture a guess of what else the might be.....

Yow, it came back to me, and am I red in the face!  I try hard to keep the best records, but as many will attest, things still manage to fall through the cracks.

  I am almost positive that they are wild Allium triccocum seeds I collected near here that same year.  At least the mystery is solved.

I had wondered what happened to them....

Now I am wondering what happened to the real Jeffersonia dubia seeds!

Look what I found this spring!  Beneath my special multi-petaled Jefersonia dubia are two seedlings!  My other seed producing J. dubia is 25ft away. Ants carry the seeds even that far away, but always to warmer, drier areas.  This more moist area gets no direct sun, except late in the day, so I am very hopeful!  Still have never found any seed capsules on the "mother" plant yet, though.  I wonder about the seedlings' true origin with fingers crossed!

Isn't this interesting.... from  http://english.knps.or.kr/flash/resources2/Model/knpsPicture_XML.xml

Jeffersonia dubia

RANUNCULALES Berberidaceae
Status : No data / No data

It is perennial. The unit stem does not exist and several leaves come from the root stem. The leaf is a rounded heart shape, the length and width are 9cm and the boundary is wave-shaped. The flower is red-purple. It hangs on the stem of the flower from April to May. The fruit is widely oval-shaped as a follicle. It propagates by seeds, but plant multiplication by separating the roots is done as well. It grows on the bottom half of mountains. It grows in nationwide in Gyeonggi-do, Gangwon-do, Chungbuk, jeonnam, Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk and is also distributed in Amur and Usuri, Russia and northeastern china.

※References
Korean red data book(MOE, UNDP/GEF Korea Wetland Project, NIER)
   

Some of the seedlings grown from seed you sent me, Mark.  Most of them are going to flower for the first time this year.

Jeffersonia diphylla

>>>Lovely clear photos

Thanks.  I actually chose to show the ones with better bokeh over full detail!

More pics, two days later: