In vitro flowering and fruiting of Begonia parvula H. Lév. & Vaniot.

Summary In this study we investigated the in vitro flowering of Begonia parvula, a highly ornamental wild species from China. Seeds were sown in a hormone-free defined medium (1/4 MS). Eight weeks after culture, seedlings were transferred to 1/2 MS medium. A period of 5.5 months elapsed from the seed state to the stage when male and female flowers were fully open. A comparison was made between both the in vivo and in vitro male and female flowers. We noted that a number of the flowers’ reproductive organs in vitro were smaller than in vivo. Flowers from both investigations had identical reproductive organs. Pollen viability was 63 % and 53 % respectively from the in vitro and in vivo male flowers after incubation in a liquid pollen germination medium for 24 h. In vitro fruit ripening was observed and viable seeds were obtained six to seven weeks after manual pollination. The seed size in vitro were 323.40 µm long and 205.00 µm wide, which was not significantly different statistically from that of the seeds in vivo. Our study showed that the life cycle of B. parvula can be completely controlled in vitro. As a result, we can eliminate the limitation from unsynchronized bloom in the future breeding attempts using B. parvula as a parent.