ant tree // hormigo // tabacon

order: caryophyllales
family: polygonaceae
genus: triplaris
species: melaenodendron



This is another plant I grow from collected seed. I nearly forgot how I found out which species of Triplaris it is, because by looking at the seeds alone, it could have also been T. americana and cumingiana. Then I remembered that I took a photo of the listing of all plant species in the plant reserve where the seed has been collected. According to the listing this is the only species that grows there, so I'm confident that this is what it is.

While getting the seeds to strike is easy, keeping them is a real challenge. Whenever you have an exotic seed like this, which is hardly explained on the www, you have to resort to the trial-and-error method. I collected half a dozen of seeds still covered in their propeller-like wings, which is to the best of my memory somewhere between pink and orange. They turned brown almost instantly. Tearing off the wings I found a tetrahedral seed with a hard shell, which I by instinct removed by nibbling off the edges. Inside there is a softer looking seed covered by a thin sheath with purplish veins running through it. It is truely a microscopic art-piece. Soaking it in water for a couple of hours prior to planting made it green and alive. Then comes the tricky part. I learned it the hard way that you should only plant the seed with the pointy side down. Even in lying position it won't work. Given the right condition (moist medium and ample warmth) the seed roots out in just a few days and should be able to raise the embryo cleanly above the soil line. This is very extremely important, because otherwise it gets infected by botrytis easily. Keeping it in a air-tight cell will only ensure wilt. Out of the 6 seeds I had, only 2 that were planted correctly made it past this stage. On a hot sunny day I nearly lost them to the burning sun but managed to save them only for the black bird to end one of them a few days later. Eventually I have one seedling left which is currently pushing off the sheath bit by bit.

At this point I should mention that this species is dioecious. Only female plants will bear those colourful flowers. The good news is, according to some research paper, most trees found in their native habitats are female. The bad news is this is the only plant I have left; I can't even play around with statistic. One thing is for sure, one lone tree won't produce those beautiful seeds. If I can choose its gender, guess what it's going to be?

No Comments yet.