One of the most interesting aquatic plants I have  grown over the past forty  odd years is the Barclaya.

           It can be quite a puzzling plant - the first puzzle being who is the Barclay, after whom it is obviously named. The only historical figures I could find named Barclay was a Russian Field Marshal and a Scottish Quaker.

           Hardly botanical types !

The second puzzle is - why the plant suddenly drops all its leaves off and becomes dormant - without reference to season or conditional changers ?

And the third puzzle is why is the Green variety more difficult to grow that the Red ?You could be justified in assuming that the plant with the greater chlorophyll content would be the hardier - but the reverse is the case.

These are questions I have been unable to answer, but there are some which I could fathom - questions posed to me when  several of us undertook a course in tissue culture.

These questions were:

 3. Can seeds be taken from the flower before the seed pod bursts and scatters the seeds ? 

4. How soon after the emergence of the flower and pod can seeds be removed and still  prove fertile ? 

5. How long can seeds survive before being planted ? 

         In order to answer these questions I undertook a series of experiments. Fortunately at the time I had a number of Barclayas which were mature and constantly produced flowers.

Being limited by time I decided to concentrate on the Red form as it is far more commonly grown that the Green.

I bagged a number of flowers with small Ziploc type plastic bags - sealing them around the flower head before the sepals peel back.  I observed each flower through the plastic, flushing the bags daily.

   The water used for flushing   was boiled to prevent contamination from external sources.

           After about two weeks, the seed pods swelled and burst scattering seeds into the bags. These were collected and cleaned of the jelly like substance which surrounds and protects them, possibly also nourishing them.

           The cleaned seeds were placed into vials, previously sterilized as I had learned on the T.C. course.  A sample result is shown in the photo above .

The seeds appeared normal in every way - emerging as  very pale brown and darkening to a dense black over time.

 I seemed to be well on the   way to finding an answer for the second question. It would appear that the flowers are self pollinating and need no external source for fertilisation . This would be proven if the seeds germinated.

To determine if the seeds could be taken from the pod before it ripened completely and burst, I set up another series of vials.

These contained clean seeds cut from the pod at various stages of development.

First before the sepals, which enclose it opened.

Second, after they opened but before they bent backwards and

Third after the sepals dropped off entirely.

So I now had thirty or so vials of seeds to maintain and observe. I followed the progress throughout the latter half of the year, observing and noting any changes.   

The first change that occurs is in the colour of the seeds - initially, as mentioned, a pale beige colour they darken over a period of ten weeks to become black . They are also very tough and hard - resistant to physical damage.

           The mature seed color can be seen in the pictures opposite.

           The next observable change is the emergence of a single white root. This occurred at  between twenty and twenty five weeks after collection.

With the exception of two vials - which were contaminated with algae and discarded, all the 'normally' collected seeds  showed this indication of fertility and verified the self pollinating postulate.

Some vials showed no sign of germination, but showed a distinct pattern. If seeds were collected from the pod prior to the sepals  partially detaching - germination appeared not to occur.

The significance of this is that seed collection need no longer involve 'bagging' the flowers.  

It will be simply necessary to observe the flower and as soon as sepals curl back and detach, the pod can be cut off and the seeds scraped out - ensuring none are lost.!

           So in conclusion - the following answers were elicited from the tests -

1. Twenty five to thirty weeks for germination.

2. Self Pollinating flowers

3. Seeds can be removed and remain viable.

Viable seeds only after  sepals decay          

As  to question five  - how long  can seeds be kept alive before planting - some seeds remained alive after more than twelve months.

           I took some of the vials along to the Plant Study Group meeting at Cuz'.

           He was kind enough to supply the following report on some vials he ended up with. Thanks Cuz.,

Here beginneth Cuz ..

At the end of the PSG night (12.03.10) there were 3 vials left -a situation that I was not all that unhappy about, given my night school experiences.

I think the idea of getting the seeds to germinate in a vial was a good one: very identifiable, portable and safe. Given the commercial growers aren't producing Barclaya, I think you have made an important improvement on the way we seem to have managed this plant in the past. These comments may be useful if someone else decides to germinate in a vial.

I do understand that the point of your research was the germination time and that growing on was not part of the brief.

I commented to you about one vial (16.03.09) being green, I now think the cause of that was that the seeds had died in the vial and the algae fed on them. Why they died is another thing: was it just too long in the vial, or had that vial come to harm in some other way?

The second vial, 19.04.09, had lots of leaves . 

Some of these had faded to white and the  roots were often going in the same direction as the leaves.

           About 25% of the seeds hadn't sprouted. I have put them in a separate container.

           The sprouted seeds I have hand planted individually with a pair of tweezers, as near as possible with the leaves in the water and the roots in the substrate. The seeds were gently pushed just below the surface in a shallow tray with about 1 cm of water.

Because there was so much growth in this vial I had trouble separating the individual plants. The best way I found was to put the lot in a container of water and swirl them around.

They separated much more easily this way. However some were still reluctant to come apart and so I found it safer to plant them together as the seed was easily separated from the stem and the plant ruined. Two plants growing together are better than both being destroyed.

The fact that some leaves had turned white worried me! Maybe they had spent too long in the vial.   Of the plants that had sprouted the vast majority had green leaves. The leaves and roots going in the same direction, meant that the plant would have wasted some of its energy having to reorientate itself.

Possibly a warning not to move the vial too much and to move the plants on before the leaves develop?

The third vial, 18.07.09, has slight (c.2 or 3 mm) root development, so I mixed the seeds in with the gravel on top of the substrate and just spread it out. Again the gravel was covered with 1.5 to 2 cm of aged tank water.

As to the substrate, I'm afraid I haven't been too scientific. I have a mix of laterite, peat, gravel and some fertiliser in variable proportions. It is mostly Melton laterite however. The cover to this is fine gravel < 2 mm.

My hypothesis is that the more recent plants, 18.07.09, might do better than the older ones because they can use all of their energy in just growing up.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity you've given me with one of my favourite aquarium plants.

Cheers        Cuz              ☺