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1 Let's watch an embryo growth in a seed. You can see the small cotyledons.
2 The same seed as in Figure 1 (left) observed from a different direction. The seed is 7 days old after pollination.
3 About 2 weeks later, we see that the cotyledons have grown. We can also see a hypocotyl and a radicle at the lower side.
4 The cotyledons are folded and occupy most of a seed. This is about 3 weeks after pollination.

Crossbreeding makes beautiful flowers

Before the flower of the morning glory opens, it is pollinated with its own pollen. However, occasionally it is pollinated with the pollen of other flowers by the movement of insects.

In order to produce a new variety, we use pollen from morning glory flowers that have unique characteristics. We manually (by hand) move that pollen to the pistil of another variety. We call this artificial pollination. The beautiful flowers of the Japanese morning glory have been produced by both natural and artificial pollination.
Producing a new flower by yourself isn't a dream: It's completely possible for you. Let's try it.


1 When you select varieties to crossbreed, you decide which variety you had better to use as a female plant and which one as a male plant. If a flower bud one day before flowering becomes big in the evening, you should remove all the stamens carefully from a female plant.

2 After removing all the stamens, you should tie up the tip of the female flower bud lightly or cover it with a paper bag. This will prevent an insect from pollinating the flower before you do.

3 The next morning, gather the pollen of the male plant and put it on a head (stigma) of a pistil of the female plant. Apply 2 or 3 stamens for one female flower.

4 After artificial pollination, write a label with the variety of the female plant, the symbol " x ", and the variety of the male plant, in that order. Then apply the label to the crossed flower. Cover the flower with a bag to protect it from insects.

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