"Des Higgins" wrote in message
...
On Apr 24, 2:01 pm, "Bertie Doe" wrote:
"Spider" wrote in message

"Bertie Doe" wrote in message

"Rusty_Hinge" wrote in message

from "Bertie Doe" contains these words:

Proper name : omphalodes cappadocica, a perennial, developed in
Holland from
forget-me-nots. Some uk seed merchants sell it in plugs, at great
expense.
Anyone know why it's not available in seed form?
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cltxf6

I don't know the plant, but it's possibly a F1 hybrid?

Thanks Rusty, suppose I bought a pot-grown one and I saved the seed. If
SE is an F1, does this mean it will possibly 'revert to type'?
Bertie
.

Hi Bertie, Rusty,

It's not an F1 hybrid. I see no reason why the basic Omphalodes
cappadocica (a perennial) should not come true from seed, although I
can't
remember ever seeing it sold as seed. Chiltern Seeds sell seed of O.
linifolium, but this form is an annual with white flowers.

Despite Bertie's header, Omphalodes is commonly known as Navelwort.
There is a cultivar(cv): O. cappadocica 'Starry Eyes', which is where
the
confusion arises. O.capp. 'SE' has blue flowers whose petals are striped
with white, giving it it's 'starry' appearance. It is unlikely that this
cv will come true from seed; it is a vegetative 'sport' which is
probably
propagated vegetatively.

I have grown O. capp. but never noticed it seeding itself around. It
does, however, sprawl and *occasionally* layer itself when happy.
Although I've never tried it, it should be possible to persuade some of
the sprawling plantlets to root more freely, perhaps with the aid of a
rooting hormone. I suspect the best time to attempt this would be after
flowering, when it is diverting its energy back into root and shoot
growth.

Thanks spider, from what I've read so far it's shade tolerant and is
derived
from Forget-me-nots. By contrast you will be aware that FMN's are quite
prolific. When we lived in London N11, they seemed to be sprouting in
everyone's front garden, in fact they became a bit of a weed - along with
Buddleia.

.

I wonder if "derived from" just means related to meaning: in the same
family as. They are pretty different from FMNs unless by FMN, they
just mean normal Omphalodes, as spider explained. Might be a Dutch-
English translation issue.



Yes, it is simply a relative, Des. It is not a man-made plant, although we
have tinkered with it to produce 'Starry Eyes' and other cvs. The basic O.
cappadocica looks much more like FMNs, than the 'SE' cv.

Omphalodes is derived from the Greek 'omphalos', meaning navel; -odes
(or usually -oides), simply likens some part of this plant to a navel. In
this case, there is apparently a navel-like depression on the seed. We
can't see it, of course, because we can't get our hands on the seed :~[.
The species name, cappadocica, tells us that the plant originated (or,
arguably, was first discovered) in the Cappadocia region of Turkey.

Spider