It has only been about 1 1/2 weeks and as expected, the trees are going into shock, turning yellow, and dropping. Some are doing better than others and it doesn’t appear they will lose ALL of their leafs. The landscape contractor said the leaves will grow back in 6-8 weeks which seems very aggressive to me..

Any ideas how quickly Autograph trees regrow healthy leafs??? Or, any experience with transplanting large Autograph trees into this size planters??;

Any input is greatly appreciated…!!

Thanks,
Aaron

HOW MANY INCHES WOULD THEY NEED TO BE APART, AND HOW FAR SHOULD

THEY BE PLANTED FROM A WOOD FENCE ?

THANK YOU

DAVE

Have the Clusia’s produced seeds? Dr. Pipoli says that only one in fifty seeds actually germinate. Is that consistant with your observations? Are there specific animals, birds, insects that nest or feed in your trees? I would appreciate an update on your findings and experiences.

bill

After a virtual trip around the tropics seeking information about the Clusia I’ve come back home, only to find one of the most distinguished experts of Clusia is here in my own back yard. Dr. John Pipoly works with the Broward County Cooperative Extension service in Ft. Lauderdale. I am a teacher for their tree trimming certification program and have met Dr. Pipoly on several occasions, but I was unaware of his Clusia expertise. If you would like to contact him his email address is jpipoly@broward.org, he is a wealth of knowledge.

Thanks for being the link that brought me the answers I needed.

Bill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apomixis

It doesn’t exactly answer your (or my) questions, but it provides a good background, which, forgive me, you may already have.

Thanks for your interest. It’s so neat to hear from someone who has experience with Clusia and likes it so well.

Thanks for your reply. I emailed Dr Hammel too and he was kind enough to answer today. To paraphrase; he has not seen any staminate (male) flowers on Clusia rosea in herbarium specimens or in Costa Rica where he is currently. He does believe they exist, probably in South America, eastern Brazil.

Still it does seem like a “chicken or the egg” question. Did the apomictic abality of the female render the male flower unnecessary, or did the male disappear first and the female adjust to survive? Again, nature is amazing.

As far as male flowers, let me quote directly from Barry Hammel’s message:

Neither of these species [C. minor or C. rosea] has purely staminate individuals either. Notice I’m not saying saying both are also apomictic; C. rosea is, but in C. minor that ring you see around the base of the ovary (which produces a resin gathered by bees), at least in Central America, always has a few anther sacs in it, with apparently fertile pollen. So, quite unusual for the genus, C. minor is apparently hermaphroditic.

The male flower may be anonymous because it doesn’t exist! I certainly have never seen any type of flower other than that shown in the post, and, believe me, I’ve been looking closely of late.

Your pictures of the Clusia are beautiful and your writing is wonderful.

Here in Florida we have the Clusia rosia which is very similiar to the species you are observing in Panama. It’s not widely used, and maybe that is not a bad thing. It is on Hawaii’s Most Invasive Horticultural Plant List maintained by their Dept of Land & Natural Resources. Certainly our climates differ but the C. rosia has some abilities that must be respected. As you mentioned they are apomictic and they also perform Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM), a fascinating adaptation for dealing with water stress. Nature is amazing.

I was wondering if you or anyone else, has a picture of the male flower of the Clusia. Since it is not required for reproduction it seems to be anonymous.

bill