--- In iris-photos@yahoogroups.com, John I Jones <jijones@...> wrote:
John,
Thanks for that picture. If that's what pineappling is then I had at
least one of those last year, but the stalk never broke the fan.
I guess I'll just watch this one to see what it does in the long and
the short of it.
Christian.
> Pineappling is generally multiple distorted stalks coming from the
> same spot on the rhizome. Pineappling is thought to be similar to
> Witches Broom in other plants. In irises it is thought to be
causes
> by damage to the growth point often because of a late freeze.
>
> 
>
> The two side fans are simple increases. Only the center shows
> pineappling.
>
> Driving through the countryside, you will often see trees and
shrubs
> with small sections of twigs densely clustered together, resulting
in
> a mass of shoots that resemble a broom. The actual cause is not
> always clearly understood, but can be due to various
microorganisms
> or insects.
>
> Witches broom on Jack pine is commonly caused by Dwarf Mistletoe
â?" a
> tiny flowering, almost inconspicuous parasitic plant. The
mistletoe
> produces a tiny seed that is propelled great distances onto the
> growth of surrounding pine trees. There, the seed germinates,
infects
> the new tree and begins the cycle again.
>
> In the nursery trade, the densely compact growth habit is often
> considered attractive. So desirable is this appearance that
several
> types of plants infected with witches broom have been selected,
> propagated and released as ornamental cultivars. Many â??dwarfâ??
> cultivars are examples of witches broom. Below Willow Witches Broom
>
> 
>
> John
>
>
>
> On Apr 9, 2008, at 2:48 PM, smciris@... wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 4/9/2008 2:49:19 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
> > flatnflashy@... writes:
> > --- In iris-photos@yahoogroups.com, Jan Lauritzen
> > <janicelauritzen@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Christian,
> >
> > I'm confused. To my eye my picture, and iris, do not look anything
> > like the "proliferation". For one thing mine is still very much in
> > the dirt- er clay. I'll buy the asexual part...
> >
> > This is one branch of the rhizome clump which ends in the fan
whose
> > base is visible in the second shot. This part of the rhizome
> > has "normal" increases off to the sides, you can see them at the
> > bottom of the second picture.
> >
> > Maybe I'm just operating under a faulty understanding of how iris
> > rhizomes grow. I'm accepting as normal that the rhizome makes new
> > leaves until it reaches bloom size, blooms, and dies. Hopefully,
the
> > rhizome pauses long enough to create "daughter" rhizomes, which
are
> > usually lateral of the "mother" rhizome. Operating in that
> > perspective, the appearance of several fans on top of a
> > single "mother" rhizome, as appears to be the case with this
plant,
> > is abberant.
> >
> > I don't know that this applies in your case, but I have seen
> > daughter rhizomes growing on top of a mother rhizome when the
> > mother's growing point had been damaged so that it couldn't
bloom,
> > or when growing conditions were such that there was little room
for
> > normal lateral increase. Ancestry is also a factor, as some
> > species tend to bunch while others sprawl.
> >
> > Sharon McAllister
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.
> >
> >
>
