Yes, *Aglaia odorata*, commonly known as the Chinese Perfume Plant, can be propagated from seed. However, it is not the most common or straightforward method for home gardeners due to several biological and practical factors inherent to the plant's reproductive strategy.
*Aglaia odorata* is an angiosperm, a flowering plant that reproduces sexually through the production of seeds. Its small, yellow, spherical flowers are rich in pollen and are highly attractive to insects, which act as pollinators. Successful pollination leads to the development of a fruit, which is a small, fleshy, red to brown berry. Each berry typically contains one, or occasionally two, seeds. The seeds are relatively large compared to the fruit size and are covered by a hard seed coat. This coat is a form of physical dormancy that protects the embryo but must be overcome for germination to occur.
Several challenges make seed propagation less reliable than vegetative methods like cuttings. First, the plant is functionally dioecious, meaning individual plants are primarily either male or female. Only female plants will set fruit and produce seeds if a male plant is nearby for pollination. Many cultivated specimens are male clones, grown for their prolific flowering, and will never produce fruit. Second, even when seeds are obtained, they have a very short viability period. They are recalcitrant seeds, meaning they cannot tolerate desiccation and lose viability quickly if stored. They must be sown fresh, almost immediately after extraction from the ripe fruit, for any reasonable chance of success.
For viable seeds, the germination process requires specific conditions. The hard seed coat can impede water uptake. To enhance germination rates, a process called scarification is often recommended. This involves gently nicking, filing, or rubbing the seed coat with sandpaper to create a small breach for moisture to penetrate. After scarification, seeds should be sown in a well-draining, sterile seed-starting mix, buried to a depth of about twice their diameter. They require consistent warmth, with soil temperatures ideally between 70-80°F (21-27°C), and must be kept consistently moist but not waterlogged. Germination can be slow and erratic, taking anywhere from several weeks to a few months.
From a horticultural perspective, vegetative propagation through semi-hardwood cuttings is the preferred and vastly more efficient method for reproducing *Aglaia odorata*. Cuttings taken from a desirable parent plant will produce a genetic clone, guaranteeing the sex, flower fragrance, and growth habit of the original. This method is faster, more reliable, and bypasses the challenges of seed viability, dioeciousness, and long germination times. It allows growers to rapidly produce true-to-type plants for commercial sale and garden use.
