# undulata flower in hydroton



## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

This was given to me as Wendtii green, but later identified as undulata. Could this be a hybrid?

photo taken on Dec 25, 2006. The flower opened around Dec 23th










*close up*









July 21, 2006


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## Xema (Mar 24, 2004)

That looks as wendtii flower...

My undulata flower looks like this


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

yea, thats why I asked if this is a hybrid of some type when I saw the flower. I didn't think it was an undulata, but someone said it was undulata because of the wavy leaves from July 21 photo.

The undulata flowers shown on the crypt page are never the same though.

All three photos are taken of the same pot. The July 21 one was taken when the plant matured and the Dec 25 one was taken after the plant recovered from a near complete melt during the moved to a new place. It started growing again back in Nov.


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

Got a better flower this time. Apparently, the last flower didn't completely open.

probably a wendtii hybrid

close up


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## SCMurphy (Jan 28, 2004)

Are you going to dissect the flower? Document the innards, as it were.


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

I don't know how to dissect the flower. Is there a guide on dissecting cryptocoryne flower somewhere?


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## SCMurphy (Jan 28, 2004)

The basics are, get a sharp knife or scalpel: 
locate the seam where the two sides of the flower came together,
follow it down the tube to the point where it intersects the kettle,
roll the flower 180° in your fingers so that point is facing away from you,
then slice the kettle top to bottom (shallow cut just the tissue on that side of the kettle),
then side to side at the top and bottom of the first cut.
This should open the flower so that the structures inside are all still complete, including the flap that is found at the bottom of the tube inside the kettle.

Its a skill I haven't practiced lately. Jan showed me how he does it when he gave me the photography lesson.

On an other tangent I'm going to email Niels and ask how he cross pollinates crypts to test hybrids. I don't know how you'd work with a flower as closed up as these. It can't be too hard if no one else at the meetings asked how he does it, right?


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

I've never crossed crypts, but I've done thousands of tubular flowers back in the day. To cross pollenate, as with other tubular flowers, I'd assume you would dissect the two flowers, and either remove and transfer ripe anthers to the stigma or transfer pollen using a fine rigger brush or something like a 2/0 to 4/0 round artists brush. Generally, the flowers are then bagged with little glassine bags to protect them from contamination by other pollen sources.

I prefer a rigger brush because the bristles are a bit longer, more flexible, and less apt to accidently damage delicate parts.

Cheers.
Jim


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

ok, I am still a bit confuse, but should figure this out with a hands on approach following the instruction you gave me. 

When you say "Document the innards", what type of data are we collecting?


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## SCMurphy (Jan 28, 2004)

Edge,

It's not just the outside appearance that is used to identify crypt flowers, the inside of the flower is used as well. Take a look at the way Jan does it on the Crypt page, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Jim,

What the heck is a 'rigger' brush? Ditto glassine bag. Yes, I'm googling them, but hey, it's fun to ask.


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

Sean;

A rigger brush is a thin round artists brush, like a watercolor brush except the bristles are much longer and softer. They became known as "riggers" because they were the brush of choice for painting the rigging of sailing ships in paintings.

Also, glassine is the material they used to use for the window in window envelopes before the switch to plastic windows. It used to be a cellulose material, was slightly opaque, got a bit brittle with age or sun exposure, and was used for making a kazoo with your pocket comb back in the day. I guess maybe I should have said cellophane envelope. Sorry about that, I used to work for a Brit plant breeder and we always called them glassine when we were working in the glasshouse...I mean greenhouse.

Please don't ask what the heck a kazoo is! (grin)

Cheers.
Jim


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