Cane Begonia 'Maculata wightii' Original Flowers / Inflorescent - Part 3

INTRODUCTION:

I have wrote a comprehensive write up on this particular Cane Begonia in my earlier post. Do check it out for more details on Plant Care. However in this particular post - I want to share my experience concerning this overall journey on what had taken place over the years.

As you can see - the plant growth and the coloration and the leaf structure, you can somehow gauge the plant growth and progress on the measure of what happens over the years.

I must say that it is indeed quite challenging to keep them growing in long term as these do have short life span in my garden.

Short like 3 - 4 months in life-span duration where you may need to cut and propagate them otherwise they do succumb to old-age and rot which may infect the whole stem with rot bacteria and somehow nothing can be saved from that cutting.

However this particular post is very much dedicated for the floral / inflorescence details.

CHARACTERISTICS:

This popular highly sought after Cane Begonia has oval shaped dark green foliage with silver polka-dot features on the leaves. The younger new leaves have olive yellow green tones which eventually turn to light salmon pink colors before fully turn green. 

The back leaf consist of a burgundy colored features that denotes the first main features of the Original Maculata Wightii species - other hybrids may have green or with just red veins on the back.

The most intriguing and strong identification factor when it comes to Cane Begonia 'Maculata wightii' Original to their identity factor are their flowers - these will be fully white without any tint of shade of colors.

I had noticed few different types of Cane Begonia 'Maculata wightii' Hybrids where their colors are light pink, off white - pale green tone and especially this one is fully white. Hence from here I can physically note and identify their true parentage based on their inflorescence coloration.

PROPAGATION BY BEGONIA SEEDPOD

There are some good possibility of germinating and propagating these Cane Begonias using seeds. Based on my personal research and asking from few friends who are begonia breeders - these are the method used.

1) MEDIUM

Basically an airtight sealed transparent containers are used and the medium are cocopeat which are sterilized - often a boiling hot water is poured upon it or that this medium is placed in a microwave oven to kill off all the pathogens that can harm the seedling. 

Once the medium is cooled off - it is placed in this container and lightly moisten with clean water.

2) SEEDPOD

When it comes to seedpods, basically - these would had dried up and most likely will have an appearance like a 3 winged seedpod - the seeds are very much in powdered form.

Hence when these are dried - carefully spread the powdered form all around the top surface of the cocopeat medium and after that close the lid and place it in bright shaded area.

3) SEEDLINGS

You will be able to notice tiny sprouts of the plants appearing within 2-3 weeks time. Do let it fully form and grow before separating them into separate pots. Also do take note that these are still fragile and may not really acclimatized to the open garden condition - hence do practice a lot of patience as it may take many weeks for it to go through the growing process

4) VARIATIONS

Also to take note that there are many variations that may appear within a single seedpod which you can enjoy when it comes to these seedlings - however you can only notice these when they had grown to its mature stage.

I must say that though a lot of these matters are not properly documented - so are these plants ID. So in such a case like these, there aren't much you can actually do when it comes to properly cataloguing a proper Cane Begonia ID - unless you have somehow years of experience in cultivation and know exactly which are which based on their plant characteristics - even that, you can easily can be make mistake as they all may appear to be very similar in their appearance or otherwise may have very slight variation that may not may not be significant to be noticed.

 

 

DIFFERENT TYPES OF CANE BEGONIAS

Other matters are very much similar with the general information about Cane Begonias.
Do click below for more information on Cane Begonias.
Cane Begonia Care & Cultivation information.