Background on the Moraeas. The Moraeas are a big genus of Iris relatives, found primarily in Africa. Many of them have fairly large, brightly-colored flowers, but as far as I can tell there hasn't been much effort to hybridize them. (Or if there has, no information about those efforts has been posted online.) I'm sharing my results here to encourage other people to try making their own hybrids. I'm treating this as the plant equivalent of an open source software project: I'll share my information (and surplus seeds) and ask only that you do the same.
I grow both species and hybrids. In addition to playing with hybrids, I'm trying to carefully preserve each of the Moraea species I grow. Many Moraea species are becoming rare in the wild, so I think anyone who works with Moraea hybrids also has a moral obligation to take care of the species and share them with others. I keep each species in several pots, to minimize the risk that an accident or disease could wipe out all of my corms. I hand-pollinate their flowers from time to time, to raise a new generation from seed, and then share the seeds through the exchange of the Pacific Bulb Society (link). I built my collection of bulbs largely through the generosity of other growers, and I am trying to return the favor by sharing what I have.
My focus. I focus on winter-growing plants that go dormant in summer, since they adapt easily to the summer-dry climate where I live in California. Although I grow a fairly broad variety of winter-growing Moraeas, for hybridization I focus on a group called the subgenus Vieusseuxia. This group includes many of the most colorful Moraeas, and I'm finding that most of them will cheerfully interbreed. There are about 25 winter-growing species in the Vieusseuxias; I have about 15 of them, and have gotten blooms from about a dozen so far. I'm always looking for more of these species, and for new color forms of the species I already have. If you have seeds or corms and want to trade, please post a comment.
As for what I'm trying to achieve with these hybrids, I haven't decided yet. At this point I'm just experimenting to see what's possible. I know that I want to try to get a truly red Moraea, but other than that I'm just exploring.
Moraea species that can be crossed. The table below summarizes the Vieusseuxia crosses I've made so far:
Failed crosses. In addition to the crosses I listed above, I have tried to cross many of the species above with Moraea polystachya and M. fergusoniae. Those species are not in subgenus Vieusseuxia, but I thought they might be compatible because they have the same chromosome numbers. None of those crosses have succeeded.
I've also tried to cross the Vieusseuxias with plants in the Homeria group of Moraeas. Some of those crosses have set seeds, but the only ones to bloom so far have all turned out to be self-pollinated. I have made some more crosses with Homeria, and am waiting for them to bloom. I suspect those will turn out to be self-pollinated as well.
Several experimental crosses between Moraea and the genus Dietes failed to set seeds.
My plants
Here's a list of the species and hybrids that have bloomed for me, as of summer 2013. Each listing links to a web page that has pictures and a description of that particular plant, including any color forms of the species.
Species I've bloomed
Moraea aristata
Moraea atropunctata
Moraea bellendenii
Moraea calcicola
Moraea gigandra
Moraea longiaristata?
Moraea loubseri
Moraea lurida
Moraea neopavonia
Moraea tripetala
Moraea tulbaghensis
Moraea villosa
Species I'd like to obtain
Moraea amissa
Moraea barkerae
Moraea barnardii
Moraea caeca
Moraea cantharophila
Moraea deltoidea
Moraea lilacina
Moraea longiaristata
Moraea regalis
Moraea rivulicola
Moraea villosa ssp elandsmontana
I'm also interested in unusual color forms of species I already have, such as the white versions of M. tulbaghensis and M. insolens, the orange and white forms of M. gigandra, the pink form of M. villosa, and orange, purple, and white forms of M. lurida. If you know where to get any of these, please let me know.
The hybrids
How to read the codes: Each of the hybrids is classified with a code to help me keep track of it. The code consists of my initials, the year, the number of the cross, and a letter indicating a particular plant from that cross. So, the code "MM 03-05a" means the first plant to bloom (a) from the fifth cross I harvested in 2003.
In parentheses, I've listed the parents of the cross, with the seed parent first.
Clicking on the code for a hybrid will take you to its webpage, with notes and more pictures.
MM 99-00 (atropunctata x neopavonia?)
MM 03-04 (aristata x calcicola)
MM 03-05 (aristata X MM 99-00 (atropunctata x neopavonia?) )
MM 03-07 (MM 99-00 (atropunctata x neopavonia?) X villosa F)
MM 03-98 (atropunctata x calcicola)
MM 03-99 (neopavonia x villosa)
MM 09-01 (aristata x loubseri)
MM 09-02 (aristata x villosa)
MM 09-04 (MM 99-00 (atropunctata x neopavonia?) X MM 99-00)
MM 10-02 (villosa x tulbaghensis green eye)
MM 10-03 (gigandra X MM 99-00 (atropunctata x neopavonia?) )
MM 10-13 (MM 03-04a (aristata x calcicola) X villosa c)
MM 10-16 (MM 99-00 (atropunctata x neopavonia?) X gigandra)
MM 10-23 (MM 03-98a (atropunctata x calcicola, spotted tepals) X MM 03-98b (atropunctata x calcicola, plain tepals) )
MM 10-25 (aristata X MM 03-04a (aristata x calcicola) )
MM 10-38 (aristata X MM 99-00 (atropunctata x neopavonia?) )
MM 11-61 (MM 03-98c (atropunctata x calcicola) X gigandra)
MM 11-69 ( (MM 03-07b (MM 99-00 (atropunctata x neopavonia?) ) x villosa F) X tripetala)
MM 11-101 (MM 03-98a (atropunctata x calcicola) X gigandra)
MM 11-128 (MM 03-98c (atropunctata x calcicola) X MM 03-99a (neopavonia x villosa) )
MM 11-135 (MM 99-00b (atropunctata x neopavonia?) X MM 03-98b (atropunctata x calcicola) )
MM 11-161 (MM 99-00b (atropunctata x neopavonia?) X MM 03-99a (neopavonia x villosa) )
I have about a hundred Moraea crosses that should bloom in the spring of 2014. So this list will be growing (assuming I can find the time to maintain it). Come back in a year and see what's new!
Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome. Just post a comment below. I am especially interested in any advice from other plant breeders.
Wow! This is so interesting. I am from South Africa and have had quite a bit of experience growing and propagating Moraeas from seed. I have always thought that they were unvalued and under utilized in home gardens. I am glad someone is doing some breeding with this genus!
ReplyDeleteI have recently been reading about people using Surflan to increase the ploidy number of certain plants. This can lead to tetraploid plants that have improved characteristics. Once you have a plant which you feel is worthy of mass propagation maybe you could look into this. Looking forward to seeing the new hybrids in 2014!
Thanks for your comment! There aren’t a lot of people growing Moraeas in California, so it’s very nice to hear from other growers around the world. Where do you get your seeds? I’m aware of the usual mail order vendors, but I’m always looking for new sources.
ReplyDeleteI’m not an expert hybridizer at all, but from my limited reading I thought I was going to have to do some chromosome doubling right away when I started breeding. The issue is that Moraea villosa and tulbaghensis are 2n=24, while most of the other Peacocks are 2n=12. Supposedly if you cross two plants like that you’ll end up with a sterile triploid. Instead, I’m finding that many of those 12x24 crosses are the most fertile, producing huge pods bursting with seed. The difficult ones for me are often the crosses of two 2n=12 plants. Those are supposed to be the more fertile crosses, but often for me they have malformed anthers and little or no pollen. They rarely set seed.
Anyway, yes I’d like to experiment with something like Surflan, but I’ll need to learn a lot more before I’ll be ready to do it.
Mike
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and so had access to seed from Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, where I used to work, as well as from the wild when we went on collecting trips. I have even seen the last known population of Moraea aristata growing on the grounds of the Observatory in Cape Town. I'm actually know enrolled in masters program through the University of Delaware and Longwood gardens.
I haven't really experimented with Surflan either but would like to a some stage in the future. I thought it would be a useful method in improving the vigor of those species that are a little more difficult to cultivate and maintain in plant collections.
Good luck
Regards
Gary
Do you have a fridge or frozen pollen bank?
ReplyDeleteDid you emasculate buds before they open? You tried cut stygma pollination?
Sorry for the slow reply. I don't know if I'd call it a pollen bank, but I have a non-defrosting fridge in the garage. I put anthers in glassine envelopes, stuff them all in a plastic bag, and freeze them there so I can cross late-bloomers from one year onto the next year's early bloomers. Moraea pollen frozen for a year is still viable the next year.
DeleteI don't have to emasculate the flowers because most of them are not self-compatible.
--Mike