On Breeding Clivia

A Brief Synopsis

For a great number of years, the common theme the “old timers” have used in the breeding of Clivia has been to “breed like with like”.  But what does this mean for the home growers and hobbyists?

What this means is that over many years of breeding the old timers in Clivia have come to understand that this is the honest way to have a somewhat predictable outcome of flower color of the off spring of a crossing of two Clivia plants.  Here, I am specifically talking about crosses of C. miniata.  Obviously, there are professional breeders who go to extreme efforts to keep records that help them to breed new hybrids and strains.

There are notable exceptions to this rule.  The first that comes to mind is what are  known as the habitat plants.  There is a notable list of these plants such as the Appleblossom complex, Emmi Wittig Pink and various yellow named plants. 

The Appleblossom complesx of plants produce flowers that are different variations of pink, cream and, sometimes, a little yellow.  If a true flowering Appleblossom is crossed to any Clivia, other than another of the Appleblossom complex (Q1-Q8) the resulting seedlings will all flower orange in the F1.  Appleblossom plants (and seedlings) that are crossed amongst the Appleblossom complex will always breed true (produce the characteristic pink and cream flowers).  This is according to Mick Dower, one of the well known breeders of this complex.

European Peaches are another group of plants with particular genetics that require excellent breeding records in order to reproduce the characteristic flowers.  These plants were derived from plants developed in Europe over a very long time.  I refer you to a paper on this topic written by John van der Linde.

Wittig Pink presents another plant that is very complex for use in any breeding program.  Although a green stemmed plant, when crossed to other Wittig Pink clones or back to itself, the plant will produce reddish flowers.  Sean Chubb has spent many years breeding with this plant (and thousands of seedlings) to produce his line of Pretty Pinks.  Pretty Pink is a hybrid of Emmie Wittig Pink that has been bread to a strain of pink flowering plants.

The next aspect of Clivia breeding is hybridization, which is a term I will use to indicate the crossing of two different plant phenotypes, i.e. the plants and flowers are very dissimilar.  I am assuming that the plants are also not genetically related.  The F1s of these crosses will almost always flower orange.  So, why would anyone want to produce more “orange” flowering Clivia?  Breeders use hybridization to improve various aspects of the plant.  Possibly the breeder would like to have a small compact plant with Orange Green Throat flowers.  To begin the process the breeder would first breed for the compact plant.  Once this is achieved, the breeder would then do further crosses to get the desired flower color. 

For more detailed information on the breeding of Clivia for flower color I refer you to the excellent printed works available through either the South African Clivia Society or the North American Clivia Society.

Cathy Geraci

Note:  this document was edited and corrected by both Chris de Vry and Gawie Lotter.