I don't know about Lunaria but another crucifer, Wisconsin Fast Plants
(Brassica rapa), does need cross pollination to set seeds. Wisconsin
Fast Plants are widely used as a model plant for science teaching
because they are small, grow nicely under banks of inexpensive
fluorescent shop lights, and go from seed to seed in about five weeks.
David R. Hershey
dh321 at excite.comtaguebwREMOVE at wfu.edu wrote:
>> Greetings,
>> Our lab has started a project using the crucifer Lunaria annua, also known
> as moneyplant or honesty. We've found that growth chamber-grown lunaria
> has very poor seed set. We are not sure if this is due to lack of an
> (insect?) pollinator, due to self-incompatibility or due to some other
> factor.
>> We have tried helping the plants along by hand-pollination, although only
> as "self" crossings, not cross-pollinations between individuals. This has
> met with limited success.
>> Due to the nature of our experiments, we cannot grow these plants outside
> where they could be pollinated naturally but we do need them to set seed.
>> Has anyone tried growing lunaria indoors for seed? Any information or
> leads would be greatly appreciated.
>> Brian W. Tague
> Department of Biology
> Wake Forest University
> Winston-Salem NC 27109
>> --
> My 2 electrons,
>> Brian
>> Remove "REMOVE" to reply
