Faucaria flower parts ID

[BennieAnTheJets]

Hi you'all -

new to this - but thought I'd try to pollinate my Faucaria Tuberculosa v Japanese. Really like these and got three plants that are blooming, even though one seems to be done.

Do you need different plants to get seeds or does one plant or even one flower produce seed with these?

Also, wondering about this flower's bits: I think I can tell the pollen is dropping to the bottom of the flower and I can pick it up there - expected the stamen to be something with three prongs at the end but these seem to have single stands? Are the ones I circled in red stamen that receive the pollen? If not, where are they?

[esp_imaging]

The stigma is the pollen receptor of the female part of the flower. It is in the extreme centre of the flower on a "stalk" called the style.
The stamens produce pollen - they are the fine strands with tiny yellow blobs (anthers) on the end which are clustered round the stigma. Mesembs (including Faucaria) often have hundreds of stamens.

Each part of a flower often matures at different times, so it may produce pollen before the stigma is receptive to receiving it, for example. The stigma may remain hidden until it is ready, when the style may lengthen so it protrudes from the centre of the flower.

To get seeds, you need to transfer ripe pollen to a receptive stigma, normally from genetically different plants. So a plant, or cuttings from it, normally won't be able to pollinate itself. There are exceptions to this, some species are very self fertile, others are may produce limited amounts of seed from selfing.

[BennieAnTheJets]

Thank you!

ok, so I think I called the stigma stamen - oops

it is the stigma that I am looking for - do the red circled parts of this flower look like stigma of Faucaria?

They look like single strands - not like the stamen with the pollen at the end - do these flowers have more than one stigma in each flower?

have not seen that before - maybe I am looking at the wrong bits

[esp_imaging]

Here's a good photo of a mesemb flower https://lithops.padstoel.nl/fotoplantl ... quana.html- the stigma can be seen clearly, it splits into a few thin fingery lobes, but arises from a single stalk in the centre of the flower and projects beyond the stamens. It's possible that the stigma remained hidden within the mass of stamens for hours or days when the flower first opened.

It's hard to tell what's what in your photo. Individual flowers can sometimes be a bit malformed, so some petals may be very short and thin, for example. This is more likely to happen with a hybridised or repeatedly selected strain, which may apply in your case.

[BennieAnTheJets]

Thanks! Yes, maybe petals - maybe part of the stamen with extra long lobes. They seemed a bit sticky.

Thanks for taking a look.