Male and female Flowers??
 

I'm new to growing Aubergines but yesterday when hand pollinating the flowers i noticed that they appear to have separate male and females flowers like whats found in the Cucurbita or Cucumis groups.
Given that Aubergines are from the Solanum Genus,of which potato and Pepino are also,i thought that both are found within the one flower within this group.
The two top flowers in the photo,the right one a male??left female??

[IMG]http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp247/Medburygardens/Picture264.jpg[/IMG]

Hi, Richard - as far as I know, it is as in tomatoes and peppers - just female and male parts, not individual flowers. The flowers must be at different stages of development, or one is already pollinated, or yet to fully open, etc.

yer that's what i would have thought too Craig,still i'll be watching the flowers like a hawk from now on and see if those longer/narrower stemmed flowers grow a fruit or not.

Found this thread when searching for eggplant pollination requirements ......

apologies if this has been discussed already, but came across a site that might explain the differences in flowers ......

[URL]http://wintersong.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/choosing-the-best-eggplant-boy-or-girl/[/URL]

p.s.: eggplants do self pollinate - right?

[quote=PNW_D;174704]Found this thread when searching for eggplant pollination requirements ......

apologies if this has been discussed already, but came across a site that might explain the differences in flowers ......

[URL]http://wintersong.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/choosing-the-best-eggplant-boy-or-girl/[/URL]

p.s.: eggplants do self pollinate - right?[/quote]
It is an old wives tale that won't die. Eggplants have perfect flowers(male and female parts) just like tomatoes and peppers. I have to explain this to people all the time and I'm still not sure they believe me. Different Eggplants varieties look different some are much more bulbous looking than others. Even within the same variety, there will be differences with some being fatter, just like some tomatoes off of plants are bigger than others on the same plant.
Remy