Pollinating succulents after they bloom: not just any two succulents crossed together will produce seeds

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Images and text: Succulent Professor

Flowers bloom in spring, birds roam free~ Succulents bloom in great numbers, so if you just casually pollinate one succulent flower with another, will you get a new variety? Today let's look at the ins and outs of pollinating succulents~

Location: Shandong

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Cross-pollination

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Succulent hybridization

For hardcore collectors who gather varieties, the existing varieties can no longer satisfy their needs, so they breed their own exclusive varieties through hybridization. Naming them themselves brings a special sense of pride. Before learning how to hybridize, there are some basic questions about hybridization you need to know!

Intrageneric hybridization

Varieties within each genus of Crassulaceae can mostly be crossed without barriers, and many common hybrid varieties are the product of intrageneric crossing. For example, the Crassula hybrids 'Ji no Kawa', 'Ryugujo' and 'Little Ming Star', the Aeonium hybrid 'Lily Lily', and the Echeveria hybrids 'Christmas Eve', 'Red-Edge Moon Shadow', 'Black Prince', 'Jade Cup' and 'Afterglow'.

Intergeneric hybridization

Most plants show fairly obvious reproductive isolation, and the success rate of intergeneric crossing is very low; this is called distant hybridization. However, it is widespread among Crassulaceae plants. The Crassulaceae known to be capable of intergeneric crossing are all genera that evolved with Mexico as their center of development; these genera are closely related, their reproductive isolation is atypical, and some intergeneric hybrids even remain fertile, such as 'White Peony' (x Graptoveria).

The genera that can be crossed with each other include: Sedum, Echeveria, Pachyphytum, Graptopetalum, Thompsonella, Villadia, Tacitus, and Cremnosedum. Pollinating between these genera can successfully produce hybrid offspring. Intergeneric hybrids are generally named by combining the names of the two genera, such as x Pachyveria, e.g. 'Frosty Morn'; x Graptosedum, e.g. 'Hime Oborozuki'.

However, some genera of succulents are strictly sterile across genera. These include Dudleya, Cotyledon, Aeonium, Crassula, and Sempervivum. I once saw on Taobao a so-called Dudleya thumb x Echeveria colorata, Violet Queen x Greenovia... just laugh it off. If you want to hybridize succulents from these genera, honestly just try selecting varieties within the genus; that is generally feasible.

Interfamily hybridization

Interfamily hybridization is impossible; the plants must be in the same family. For example, Othonna capensis is a plant in the Asteraceae genus Senecio, and Haworthia cooperi is a plant in the Liliaceae genus Haworthia. Although both are succulents, they are very distantly related to Crassulaceae. There is no possibility of hybridization whatsoever, no need to even try; it cannot succeed.

Fertility of hybrid varieties

Roughly infer sterility from the performance of the hybrid variety's flowers, and whether it can be used for further hybridization

Sometimes a hybrid variety performs very well and is worth re-crossing to improve it or to provide quality genes.

You can roughly judge by the flowers: if the pollen develops well on the anthers of this hybrid variety, then the variety is very likely fertile. Used as either the father or the mother plant, it may produce seeds that can germinate. For example, with 'White Peony' and 'Christmas Eve', in actual cultivation you can find that their pollen volume is very large, and after hybridization they indeed produced fertile seeds, which grew into seedlings when sown.

As for the variety 'Tia', observing the anthers shows that the pollen develops very poorly, with almost no pollen present, and actual testing found that using it as either the father or the mother plant failed.

Species hybrids and original species

Crossing original species with original species is very easy, and the seed quality is good. Crossing a hybrid with an original species generally also yields some successful seeds, and the overall success rate is higher than hybrid x hybrid combinations. So collecting original species is a task every grower aspiring to hybridize must do.

Characteristics of different plants

Different plants have different shapes and characteristics.

If you love the tough, sturdy rosette shape and waxy skin color of the Echeveria agavoides line, then choosing original species and varieties of the Echeveria agavoides line as your hybridization starting point is a good idea, such as 'Romeo', 'Ebony' and 'Xiangfu Lian'.

If you prefer sharp claw tips, then varieties such as 'Black Claw', 'Red Claw', 'Sea Ice Grey', 'Wu Gou' and 'Devil Claw' are your best choices as parent plants.

If you are a hardcore dark-and-moody fan, then 'Rudolph', 'Heavenly Demon Dance', 'Tuoba Lian', 'Ancient Purple' and Echeveria moranii are absolutely your thing.

If you are obsessed with soft, delicate red edges and blood-red leaves, then 'Carola', 'Flower Moon Night', 'Rosima' and 'Tahejian' are high-quality gene sources for these traits.

If you are dazzled by the bright, glistening frost-covered sedums, Echeveria laui, 'Guanghan Palace' and Echeveria peacockii are all excellent parent plants.

If you are charmed by small, plump, jelly-colored succulents, then 'Jingye', 'Blue Bean', 'Vine Lotus', 'Moon Shadow', 'Hananoi' and 'Blue Sapphire' are the varieties you should try a lot.

If you prefer delicate frills, grow a Shaviana or a 'Mirror Lotus'.

If you adore a fuzzy texture, then 'Qingzhu Lian', 'Jinsi Huang', 'Huasi' and 'White Rabbit Ear' are all parent plants you should collect.

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