It is only possible through chromosome counting to establish
the ploidy of your single plant.Given the frequency of natural mutation from diploid to tetraploid,as well as other ploidy,and from tetraploid to diploid among Hippeastrum,your one plant could be any of these,while other plants may not be.The facial evidence ,to me,is tetraploid.The characteristics of Papillio are strongly evident in the picture of your Exotic Star.It looks to me like you really know how to grow Hippeastrum.If Exotic Star is patented in the U.S.,then you should be able to gain some information about the parentage of it from a patent search. Del

Laurier,

My observations of Exotic Star have completely opposite results. However, I admit that I did not try to cross Exotic Star with a Tet.

Since Exotic Star was available at Walmart for a reasonable price (and NO shipping costs), I was able to obtain quite a few additional ones. Forgive me, I forget how many, but lets just say it was something like 6 of them.

The crosses that I have made with Exotic Star in the last couple of years include (but not limited to):

Exotic Star X LaPaz
Exotic Star X Ruby Meyer
Aumputo X Exotic Star
Misty X Exotic Star
Exotic Star X Misty

We are talking here about 100s of seedlings. The majority of the seeds germinated and are spending their summers outside in 3-5 gallon community pots.

Hans-Werner has proved that you can cross a Dip with Tet pollen. Houston Pat has had success with Tet X Dip.

Irregardless of the possiblilities of mixing ploidy, the sheer numbers of viable seeds are greatly reduced when using Diploid and Tets are mixed.

I tried, but was unable to self Exotic Star. Needless to say, I have not given up on that venture.

In the meantime, my experience indicates that the ploidy of Exotic Star is DIPLOID!

Try your Exotic Star with a DIP and I think you will see what I mean. You will get many more seeds and over 90% will germinate.

Thank you both for your input!

npublici:

I didn't know that ploidy of hippeastrum was that unstable, that seems to be quite unusual; as far as I know, such mutation is not as frequent in other plant genera, right?

elizabeth jb:

I will try to cross ES with a known DIP when I can, most likely next Spring when I'll have some, right now the only one I have is Papillio and I don't want to impart more of it into ES. By the way, following the description of papillio that was made elsewhere on this forum, I have 2 types: one with a ball shape bulb and the other one with a pear shape bulb.

So, do I have a DIP or TET ES? There is no answer to this question yet unless I have it lab tested. Knowing that DIP x TET are possible, that such crosses don't yield many seeds and the viabililty of these seeds is very poor, then I tend to belive it is a DIP. I'll know better after having crossed ES with another DIP instead of a TET as I did. Many thanks to you! And if someone else has anything to add, they are welcomed!

Laurier

If memory serves, my Exotic Star was quite remarkable, having more blooms than expected, and giving me one giant seed pod... I believe it was from a selfing.

These photos are from last winter...

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I didn't get a chance to plant any of the seeds, but I did send some out... I can't remember exactly who got them, or whether they had luck growing them... my memory is terrible. It was at the beginning of my collecting, so I neglected to keep good records.

What I do remember, is that Exotic Star was quite a beauty! I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Thanks everyone for your input. I guess that the last word still hasn't been said on this plant, there still is very much to be said!