germination, catalogue of Bromeliad plants

A catalogue of Bromeliads used for various projects by - © Lloyd Godman

This is a catalogue of bromeliads used by Lloyd godman for his various installations and photosynthesis projects - the collection of pants he accessed in New Zealand from 1996 - 2004 was collected from a wide range of sources, while most were brought from Greens Bromeliads, some were also donated by the Dunedin Botanical Gardens. Later in 2004 these plants were either sold or given away with his move to Australia.

Lloyd is at present re-establishing his collection where he now lives in Melbourne.

Germination of Bromeliads seeds

germination: The growth of an embryo or seed into a plantlet or individual plant.

Collecting seed

There are two types of seed that I collect berries and airborne seed, and each has to be harvested differently.

	Tillandsia and Vriesea have hard dry seed pods, and when these ripen they suddenly split open where the seed blows away on the wind. Lack of attentuion to the ripening and the see will be lost. The image shows the fine seed of a Tillandsia tricolor ready for harvest. In nature the seed becomes airborne and flies off in the wind. If it lands on a host plant and with the right conditions it will germinate. Sometimes the seed that lands underneath a branch has the advantage of not beingburnt by the hot sun. Experiments have shown that Tillandsia seed germinated in Aggar Aggar produce roots thatb grow upward,. As seed pods of Tillandsia begin to rippen I shift them indoors to a location where the seed can not blow off in the wind with a specially designed tray underneath them so as to catch any stray seed that might fall down, up the sides of the tray is a fine net. With larger Tillandsia and Vrieseas that I can not move indoors, I tie a small piece of stocking over the seed pod to catch any seed.
	the seed pod of this Tillandsia seleriana has just opened and is ready for harvest.
	Open seed pod of a Vriesea
	this is a great way to grow till seed - I use exactly the same system I cut the top off these food containers and stretch netting across - I use plastic fly screen (it allows the seedlings to dry out quicker than a stocking) I cut the netting to fit the container size and first wrap the screen in a closed cylinder around the ripening seed to catch it from blowing away - I have both the plants and seed trays out doors and to stop the wind blowing the container away I put bit of broken ceramic tile in the bottom to weigh it down - If I go away for some time or its really hot 38 - 44 degrees c I fill the container with water and it evaporates past the plant to keep the humidity up - at the moment I have over 100 containers like this
	I wait till the seed has just opened - and put the container into a mini green house that holds 3 containers with a heat pad under it I keep the humidity up by keeping water below the plants - after about 2 weeks the seed is usually germinated and can come out into a protected shelter for about 6 months then out doors where the light levels are higher - I did have a problem a few years back where we were away and had some one staying who thought they were helping and watered the seedlings about 11 am on an over 40 day - which fried the trichome cells off - so I lost a lot of plants and the ones that did survived have taken years to recover - so I have some plants that were germinated in 2015 -16 that are actually bigger than some that were germinated in 2011





	fine thread like Vriesea seed, this does not need a clean or wash and can be sown directly
	The berry like seed of a Neoregelia often ripen under water, you can put your finger in to see if the seed pod is swollen and ripe with seed. When ripo the seed pod or berry should pull out easily. If if will not pull out easily the seed still needs ripening.

	berry: A pulpy or fleshy indehiscent fruit with two or more seeds. One of the indicators of Bromelioideae In many such Bromeliads the berries change colour as they ripen - Image shows three different Aechmea berries - ripeness is indicated by the dark purple colour.





	Germination of an Aechmea seed,