Euphorbia obesa with male and female flowers?
- splitchestnut
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2021 4:45 pm
- Location: Rockville, Maryland
Euphorbia obesa with male and female flowers?
My oldest euphorbia obesa which had always produced female flowers suddenly surprised me by producing female AND male flowers at the same time. Is this common for obesas? I hope it's not a sign of stress or other issues.
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Trying to keep cacti alive in Maryland
- One Windowsill
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Re: Euphorbia obesa with male and female flowers?
Age and desperation? Has she ever produced seeds?
There are some species where this will happen.
There are some species where this will happen.
- splitchestnut
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2021 4:45 pm
- Location: Rockville, Maryland
Re: Euphorbia obesa with male and female flowers?
I got her in 2017, I'm not sure how old she was when I got her. She's never made seeds since I didn't have a male obesa until recently and even now they aren't always blooming at exactly the same time that pollination would be possible. I also wasn't particularly interested in making seeds since I don't really have room to grow more plants but if it's important for her health I can definitely make it happen!
Trying to keep cacti alive in Maryland
- splitchestnut
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2021 4:45 pm
- Location: Rockville, Maryland
Re: Euphorbia obesa with male and female flowers?
I got her in 2017, I'm not sure how old she was when I got her. She's never made seeds since I didn't have a male obesa until recently and even now they aren't always blooming at exactly the same time that pollination would be possible. I also wasn't particularly interested in making seeds since I don't really have room to grow more plants but if it's important for her health I can definitely make it happen!
Trying to keep cacti alive in Maryland
- mmcavall
- Posts: 1436
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- Location: São Carlos - SP, Southeast Brazil, Cerrado Region
Re: Euphorbia obesa with male and female flowers?
I have one relatively young obesa that I tagged as male, since it produced male flowers. However more recently it is producing female flowers. No sure what is going on.
Re: Euphorbia obesa with male and female flowers?
Interesting. Some fishspecies can change the sex too, if the male fish in a ‘harem’ dies. The links discuss this fenomen in plants and fives some clues to why this happens.
https://iflscience.com/plants-and-anima ... hange-sex/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 094606.htm
https://weedmaps.com/learn/the-plant/he ... -turn-male
( hope I am not doing anything wrong , posting the last link? I came across it when googling for sex change in plants)
https://iflscience.com/plants-and-anima ... hange-sex/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 094606.htm
https://weedmaps.com/learn/the-plant/he ... -turn-male
( hope I am not doing anything wrong , posting the last link? I came across it when googling for sex change in plants)
Re: Euphorbia obesa with male and female flowers?
I have noticed before that Euphorbia bupleurifolia has changed sex. I don't know if this happens often (probably not) but there have been reports of this happening before.
See also viewtopic.php?f=23&t=43165&p=361976&hil ... ex#p361973 for another report of this, next to mine.