* THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF *
* THE CREATION OF HYBRIDS *
* OF TWO EPICACTUS *
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▲ Pollination and fertilization.
1 Reproductive organs of the flower.
Cactus flowers are hermaphroditic, i.e. they contain both male and female reproductive organs.
The male reproductive organs (4) are the stamens, whose tips (anthers) carry the pollen.
The female reproductive organ (5) is the pistil, whose end near the stalk contains the ovary. The upper end is the stigma.
Sexual reproduction of an Epicactus takes place by sowing seeds from a fruit, which itself comes from a fertilized flower.
2 Pollination and fertilization.
Pollination is the transport of pollen from the stamens of one flower to the stigma of the pistil of another.
Pollination may be carried out manually by the hybridizer, or it may be the result of an insect pollinating the flowers. In the Paris region, the insect in question is most often a bee or a bumblebee.
During pollination, if a pollen grain reaches an ovule in the pistil's ovary, fertilization takes place and a seed is formed.
This is why the greater the quantity of pollen deposited on the pistil, the greater the number of seeds likely to be formed.
Most Epicactus are autosterile, meaning that it is impossible to pollinate one flower with another from the same plant. There are, however, a few exceptions.
To hybridize two Epicactus, you need to take
two Epicactus flowers of different identities.
and use a brush or cotton bud to place the pollen of the father Epicactus (right-hand flower) on the
stigma of the pistil of the mother Epicactus flower (left flower).
To be sure of the father, you need to protect yourself from foraging insects, for example by using curtains around the greenhouse.
If this condition is not respected, a foraging insect may get ahead of the hybridizer and falsify the pedigree.
More detailed diagram of stamens and ovary.
Source: Wikipedia article Botanical style
In the example I'm about to show you, I didn't carry out any manual pollination.
A flower of Epicactus 'Arturo' was pollinated and fertilized in the summer of 2013 by a foraging insect.
The hybrids resulting from this fertilization have the following pedigree: Ep. 'Arturo' Ex Nat (natural fertilization).
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