I didn't ever think I'd get a seed pod from a Scaphosepalum species, ever! This is because if any of you have ever tried to hand pollinate one of the smaller species of Scaphosepalum, you guys would know just how difficult it would be to collect the tiny little pollinia and insert it into the stigmatic opening on a tiny, short, curved column, inside a non-resupinate, cupped flower, despite having a magnifying glass.
I also never would have thought there would be an animal that can pollinate
Scaphosepalum verrucosum here in SoCal. Apparently there is an unknown pollinator running around my yard! Despite not knowing what the pollinating animal is, I think that it is an insect; and I suspect that it might be an ant.
If it isn't ant pollinated, the only other thing I can think of that could possibly be a pollinator would be small jumping spiders, (spiders are not insects, they are arachnids). But I have doubts that small jumping spiders are the culprit.
So, I'm proud to say, I currently have 2 pods of
Scaph. verrucosum!!!
Here's the link to the photo:
Scaphosepalum verrucosum seed capsules | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I didn't think to take a good photo of the flower along with the photo of the pods, but you can see that these pods clearly belong to
Scaph. verrucosum from the image of the flower that was partially cut off along the left margin of the picture.
Unexpected surprise from Scaph verrucosum!
Linear Mode
