John&Jacq~s Garden

Propagating Proiphys amboinensis from seeds is viable!

Proiphys amboinensis (Cardwell Lily, Northern Christmas Lily) really had us intrigued when it flowered for the first time last April after 7 years and sent me on a search mission for its correct ID.!

An attractive foliage plant with large heart-shaped green-coloured leaves, embossed with lovely venation and will produce fabulous white blossoms unexpectedly to amaze you!

We became more fascinated when the flowers began to develop roundish fruits or seedpods and set us thinking whether they can be germinated. John was not as keen as I in wanting to experiment collecting its seeds to propagate new plants. According to him, why bother when we could easily get them by dividing the offsets that develop on mature bulbs. I, on the other hand, am curious by nature and like to experiment and explore! To me, this was a golden opportunity as we won’t know whether our Proiphys amboinensis will at all flower again! ;)

My fascination intensified when I read from the Australian National Botanic Gardens website that the genus name Proiphys, as defined in Greek, proi means early and phyo means to bring forth. It alludes to the premature germination of the seeds in the fruit (each fruit bears one to several fleshy seeds) whilst still on the plant. Something known as viviparous – The Free Dictionary’s definition of viviparous for botany is:
a) Germinating or producing seeds that germinate before becoming detached from the parent plant, as in the mangrove; and
b) Producing bulbils or new plants rather than seed, as in the tiger lily.

Armed with the hope of seeing such a phenomenon which was new to me, I took the challenge and endeavoured to make it possible. Sadly, it didn’t materialize as anticipated, that is, the seeds in the fruits that developed after flowering did not germinate while on the plant itself. Nature has its own design. Nevertheless, we were delighted with the successful outcome of our propagating project where we got a new Cardwell Lily plant by germinating a single seedpod.

The whole propagation process of Proiphys amboinensis took about 6 months. Slightly more than half a year? Unbelievable, huh! Not for the impatient gardener, for sure! We too were absolutely surprised. The fruits seemed never wanting to mature, preferring to remain young and green forever!

With no knowledge whatsoever on how-to or when to harvest the seeds and plant them, we just had to do it by instincts. No online literature was available as a guide, so it was just a trial and error affair!

Sharing below our experiment on
propagating Proiphys amboinensis by seeds
– steps taken, including our observations and thoughts :

1. May 1 – flowers were allowed to naturally develop into globular-shaped fruits or seedpods, that were smooth, glossy and dark green in colour, measuring 2-3 cm across. Withered flowers were left as they were to dry up. Initially, I did pull one off but noticed its filament extending inside the seedpod. Thus, didn’t repeat for the rest, just in case it had a purpose there. As I’ve mentioned above, we were clueless on what to expect, being our first attempt and no material could be sourced online for direction.
   
   Though our flowers started to set fruits as early as May 1st, the majority of fruits dropped before month-end and only 2 remained attached two months later. What a disappointment! Size of fruit increased very gradually during the whole time and you can see that the green shade had darkened but still remained unripened.
2. June – the flowering scape, 60 cm long was unable to hold firm and support itself. As early as June, we had it staked as we didn’t want to risk loosing those precious seedpods. But, it was beyond our control as no matter how careful we tried, the plant has the final say. Inevitably, only one seedpod was hers to give.
   
3. August 8 – within 3 months after the fruits were first produced, all but one didn’t drop. We were unsure whether the remaining seedpod will mature to a different shade at all, as it seemed to be forever clothed in dark green. Was it time to harvest for germination? We decided to follow our gardening instincts and experience and let it be.
   September 6 – finally, in the fifth month, the seedpod started to change colour, with a tinge of orangy-yellow and within a week, had matured rapidly to dark brown and detached itself from the flowering scape. Humph!…no chance at all now of seeing the ‘viviparous miracle’! :(
   
4. September 13 – the long-awaited seedpod was finally ready for propagation! But, we weren’t!
   Uncertainties surfaced! Is it a seedpod containing seeds within or is it a whole seed that has to be dried and shriveled before planting? If a seedpod, has it to be cut open to remove the seeds! What if we are wrong in our assumptions and had sacrificed the only one there is, our whole experiment will go up in flames! Oh dear, what should we do!
   John left the decision to me since it was my baby from the start. Well, since Cardwell Lily is a bulbous plant, I just followed my instinct to sow the freshly fallen seedpod right away into a pot filled with moist well-drained garden soil, as you would a bulb. That was, being mindful that its topside (where the flowers were previously attached) remained above the soil, and ensure that half to one-third of it exposed, as seen in the photo below. Then, locate it at a bright site with filtered sunlight, and water lightly every other day.
   
5. September 20 onwards – a week later, some of the outer covering had fallen to expose a green section and an encircling root. We were so excited to see these significant signs of growth. The picture below shows the gradual sequence of the seed’s germination and by November 5, the main body had developed an upward projection where a shoot would emerge. You can see a small shoot had sprouted beside it too. Apparently, it germinated from one of the other seeds contained in the same seedpod.
   
6. November 11 – hooray! A sprout had finally emerged to say hello! Welcome to the world, our precious baby!
   
7. November 15 – by the fourth day, it had shot 17 cm tall, what a beauty!

   Can you detect 2 more shoots beside it? Funny that they are still so tiny in comparison, in spite of one of them having emerged even before the tallest sister! Well, we’ll just wait and see their progress.

   We’ve read that plants propagated from seed are not genetically the same as the parent plant…we’ll observe this too.

The whole experiment had been so wonderful! We’re absolutely thrilled with our success.

What an enriching experience! And, so rewarding too, even though it seemed to takes ages to announce its long-awaited arrival! Though so worthwhile, almost 7 months is sure a long wait! Hehe…almost as long as waiting for the arrival of a premature baby/babies, our grand-daughters! ;)

Know more about Cardwell Lily’s profile here, if you’re interested.

Update: February 22, 2013
An easier alternative method of propagating Cardwell Lily is by division of bulb offsets – learn how-to here.

Last edit: June 3, 2016

Tags: collage, our garden, propagation, propagation by seeds