Quick – time to bag your heads!
Recently botanist, Andrea Kodym told me that it was well and truly time to start bagging my heads. Although I was born and raised in Tasmania, that wasn’t what she meant.
What Andrea was referring to was the fact that time was running out to bag the inflorescences of Lepidosperma and Gahnia species. Research by Andrea and her colleagues at the University of Melbourne’s Burleigh Campus has shown that by putting nylon stockings around the heads of these species greatly enhances your chances of harvesting viable fruit.
However, you’ll need to move quickly! Andrea recommends that heads should be bagged no later than early December. So if you want to increase your chances of collecting viable seed go and bag your heads.
For more information about how to go about this, see Andrea’s Lepidosperma seed collection protocol, or the images below.
Lepidosperma seed collection protocol – Page 1
Lepidosperma seed collection protocol – Page 2
