Jumping in.....its not that uncommon, especially if grown outdoors during the summer, where the hummingbirds do all the dirty work. But, they are very easy to pollinate with the aid of one's trusty fingernail. The pods are long and beanlike, hanging down. Some species can have pods over a foot long. They take several months and when ripe will dry and split open lengthwise. The seed then floats out. Unlike all other gesneriad seed, lipsticks will have seeds with tiny hairs attached, so that the mass of seeds looks like fluff. The actual seed is a dot in the middle of the hair. Some species have just one hair, some have two hairs, etc. They germinate like other gesneriad seed though. You just take a pinch of the fluff and press down gently on top of the surface of the very moist media and enclose. Your seedlings will look different from the parent in that as they grow their leaves will be a little different in shape and markings; but this is juvenile foliage. It is very rewarding to grow on the seed. You will learn so much, watching your seedlings grow and mature. To harvest the seed, you can wait until the pod dries and cracks, and then quickly gather the seeds. If you see the pod beginning to crack or dry you can remove it and place in an envelope to capture the seed when the pod dries. But, even if you miss the event and the pod splits and dries, there is usually some seed that remains for several weeks or more. One pod will contain a lot of seed--enough to grow on several hundred seedlings. Jon

I have settled on Victoria Secret lip glosses as my favorites. The ones with color have just enough color to make a difference. It stays on, the taste is pleasant, and they are inexpensive. I have lots of them. I like them, too, because they come in a tube with a cap. I have had trouble with regular lipsticks turning to unusable goo in the warmth of our hot summers. As I get older I am aware that lipsticks are drying to my lips. They also look a little dated on older women. Here is a link that might be useful: VS lip glosses.

I'm not quite 50, but will chime in anyway. I love Mac lipsticks, they are creamy so can't think that they would be drying on any age lips. The colors are very saturated as well. In addition, they have a recycling program so if you save 6 used tubes (of lipsticks, liners, mascaras, etc) you can trade them in for a free one. They aren't super expensive, so just pick a color and try it out!

A. longicaulis, if it turns out to be that, definitely has flowers that leave something to be desired. They're unique, but hard to see. It is a very nice foliage plant though with the heavily mottled leaves. Most Aeschynanthus have much brighter flowers, typically red or orange, though at least one is pink and there are a couple yellows too. People like 'Mona Lisa' 'Big Apple' and 'Coral Flame' a lot. Of those 'Coral Flame' is the most floriferous and is rather compact. 'Mona Lisa' is larger and to me is the stereotypical 'lipstick' plant. I've seen both in stores before. I've also seen A. gracilis 'Red Elf' and A. micranthus in stores. Both are red flowered and were EA products. Keep an eye out and you might come across them sometime. The A. gracilis "Red Elf' was labeled A. radicans 'gracilis' because EA is awful at getting tags right. I'm not sure if they ever corrected it.