WHEN PRICKING OUT SOME LITHOPS SEEDLING I FOUND IT WAS NECESSARY TO UNTANGLE THE ROOTS OF SOME OF THE PLANTS. WHEN I TRIED TO SEPARATE THESE I REALISED THEY WERE ONE PLANT WITH VERY DIFFERENT HEADS.
Now that is weird. Never seen that before. The smaller pair of leaves may not have a good vascular connection to the stem. That could explain the leaf color and pattern variation. It also could simply be a genetic mutation within the one leaf pair. Whatever the cause, very interesting. Something for the MSG bulletin.
I had never seen anything like that before. I was wondering if the roots of two seedlings had got combined at a very early stage. It will be interesting if the plant grows into a clump with different heads. I did offer to write a small article about it for the MSG bulletin but Suzanne did not think it was that odd.
I think it's very odd IF there is a single stem. If it appears two stems are twisted around one another, even it they are somewhat fused, then the two different leaf pair appearances would simply represent two different plants. I still think the most likely explanation is some type of damage to the attachment of the smaller leaf pair.
I once had a similar case with a L. karasmontana "lateritia", but the two heads became equal next year. I think it´s a matter of different sheading, one head is faster than the other one. Sometimes "lateritia" have different markings, when I bought them, the plants were red almost without Islands like the small one on the right. But now they look almost all like the bigger on.
Thanks Jurgen. There were plants with similar heads to both in the batch of seedlings. It seems unlikely that the plant will develop with different coloured heads. I wiil report back next year.
Now that is weird. Never seen that before. The smaller pair of leaves may not have a good vascular connection to the stem. That could explain the leaf color and pattern variation. It also could simply be a genetic mutation within the one leaf pair. Whatever the cause, very interesting. Something for the MSG bulletin.
ReplyDeleteI had never seen anything like that before. I was wondering if the roots of two seedlings had got combined at a very early stage. It will be interesting if the plant grows into a clump with different heads. I did offer to write a small article about it for the MSG bulletin but Suzanne did not think it was that odd.
ReplyDeleteI think it's very odd IF there is a single stem. If it appears two stems are twisted around one another, even it they are somewhat fused, then the two different leaf pair appearances would simply represent two different plants. I still think the most likely explanation is some type of damage to the attachment of the smaller leaf pair.
ReplyDeleteI did try to untangle the two heads before I realised it was one plant. I will keep asking around to see if someone can confirm your theory.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI once had a similar case with a L. karasmontana "lateritia", but the two heads became equal next year.
I think it´s a matter of different sheading, one head is faster than the other one. Sometimes "lateritia" have different markings, when I bought them, the plants were red almost without Islands like the small one on the right. But now they look almost all like the bigger on.
Jürgen, Berlin
Thanks Jurgen. There were plants with similar heads to both in the batch of seedlings. It seems unlikely that the plant will develop with different coloured heads. I wiil report back next year.
Delete