Hi. I was wondering about some seeds from moonvine. See I cross pollinated it with star gazer lillies and it gave me 3 white and a single black seed. I havent a chance to plant them and see, but is the black one a dud or is it the only seed that made the hybridization?

Sorry, im still new to making hybrids. I just find it fascinating.

It's highly unlikely that two totally separate families of plants would be compatible. Ipomoea alba is from the Convolvulaceae Family of plants and the Stargazer Lily, Lilium is from the Liliaceae Family of plants. Kind of like trying to cross breed an elephant to a fish. Your black seed is probably a mutation .. it will be interesting to see what grows from it.

So if I comtinued to cross pollinate them in the same manner, would it eventually become its own species? I mean you know everything is possible.

No, it doesn't work that way .. the DNA is not compatible. If you had a gene splicing machine you could probably do it. When hybridizing you pretty much have to stick to at least the same family and in most cases the same genus as well as species

Okay, thanks! Im still going to do it, because its different and flowers are flowers. Plus if I like the mutation it will be worth it.

When I said mutation I was referring to a mutation of the Ipomoea alba .. the black seed has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Stargazer Lily. The lily pollen cannot fertilize the Moonvine flower. Your black seed is probably a mutation which occurs from time to time with plants in their own genus and species.

A good example is the El Capitolio Tropical Hibiscus. The flowers are usually red - known as Bloody Mary, but a mutation aka 'sport' occurred on a red flowering plant creating an orange flower and the branch with orange flowers was cut off and rooted and the sport is called Tequila Sunrise. As you can see in the picture, the form of the flowers are identical .. only the colors are different. It's not a hybrid.

I agree with Xeramtheum, I doubt seriously if your idea of crossing Ipomoea and Lillium will work but please keep us posted on your experiment! My Moonflower (Ipomoea alba) produced a couple of brownish-black seeds one year but I don't remember if I ever planted them or just threw them away.

Ive had the seeds about 2 years now. Since then, ive had 2 datura started from seed and have one still growing, but hasnt flowered since september. Cant wait to start a brug and cross them since I know they are related.

I'll want to see pictures of this Datura x Brugmansia. You might make yourself a million dollars or more if you pull it off.

Lol .. I was thinking the same thing .. though there were hints awhile back of a brug/dat cross in a laboratory.

Absolutely agree that the Lily and Moonvine would not cross. The elephant/fish analogy was right on. Or pigs might fly, too .. ?

I keep thinking that the Brugs and Daturas must be crossing somewhere. I have brugs with flowers that hang straight down, Daturas with flowers that face upwards, and several brug crosses from various trades and unknown parentage that have flowers that face sideways . . . I don't know But I know there are lots of people messing around with crossing them. They ain't cheap, but they are easy.

Anne, is that a stinkhorn mushroom in your avatar? Pretty one, but I'd get rid of it before it starts to, y'know, STINK! They really smell like rotting corpses.

Lol .. I did indeed get rid of it .. I thought something had died in the greenhouse when I first started smelling it.

The thread "Ewww .. something died in the greenhouse?" in Greenhouses forum