Harvesting native lilies – Introduction

Bulbine bulbosa – a perennial lily native to grassland in southern and eastern Australia John Delpratt was interested in finding the best way to harvest seed from Bulbine bulbosa – a perennial lily native to grassland in southern and eastern Australia. Hand harvesting the seed is difficult and time-consuming, and seeds are easily lost.

John compared the traditional method of hand–collecting seeds from open fruit with three different methods of harvesting and ripening fruit in an artificial environment.

The key issues John wanted to address were:

Did the harvesting method influence seed yield and seed size?

Timeline

Spring, 1996 Study design
December, 1996

Data collection starts
February, 1997 Data collection finishes
Summer, 1997 Data analysis starts
July, 1999 Final report

John Delpratt talks about the study


Click the play button to hear from John Delpratt