This is really wierd. Every pod so far that has ripened on diploid cultivar Moonlight Orchid has had white seeds in it. Has anyone else had this happen with this plant???

Not from that plant but I did get a pod off of BLUE BEETLE X TAL OF GASCONE that had firm, white seeds after more than 60 days. I potted them up to see what would happen. I was too nervous to put them in the fridge though.

Do they make albino seedlings or green ones.

Let us know if they sprout. I am really curious about this. I still have about 6 more pods to harvest so I will report on those when they are ready.

A few years ago I was considering purchasing Moonlit Orchid and in researching and viewing gardeners photos, I found statements like this. "If used as a parent, all or nearly all of its seeds will be albino, therefore not viable."
When I saw your picture, I remembered my research.

I wonder if they are viable- easy enough to find out if you stick some in between wet paper towels to see if they sprout or not. ~Jan

Wow, that is really unusual.

Bringing this thread back.

Moonlight Orchid is probably carrying a mutation that produces white seeds rather than normal coloured seeds.

I would expect that the non-black seeds from crosses with Moonlight Orchid as the pod parent are viable and will sprout at normal rates to produce normal green seedlings rather than all albino seedlings.

Crosses from plants that produce albino seedlings indicate that the parents carry mutations that produce albino seedlings (non-green leaves).

The mutation for non-black seeds will be different from the mutation for non-green leaves. There are many genes that can mutate to produce non-green seeds so albino plants are not very unusual in most plant species.

Although most diploids are self-incompatible (when pollinated with their own pollen they will not produce viable seeds or seedlings), sometimes they will produce viable seed (Stella de Oro, does for example). You might try self-pollinating Moonlight Orchid to see if you can produce several seedlings that will themselves produce white seeds when they are used as pod parents. Otherwise, it is likely that seedlings with Moonlight Orchid as their pod parent (pollen parent not Moonlight Orchid) will themselves produce normal coloured seeds. If that is indeed what happens then the mutation would be considered to be 'recessive'. If seedlings from Moonlight Orchid (pollen parent not Moonlight Orchid) also produce white seed then the mutation would be considered to be 'dominant'.

Thanks Maurice, I will definitely try that.

Thanks for that Maurice.