Not just any sport; a witch’s broom sport! Remember the quidditch tournament of the first Harry Potter Movie? Well, it has nothing to do with that. You should not be watching such movies anyway.
This sort of ‘sport’ is merely a genetic variant growth. This particular sport happens to be known as a ‘witch’s broom’.
There is quite a variety of other sports.
Sometimes, a plant is going along minding its own business, when all of a sudden, it produces a stem with variegated leaves. Unlike the plain green leaves on the rest of the plant, the leaves on the sport are outfitted with white margins. In the wild, such a sport would probably not last long. Since it has less chlorophyll than the unvariegated foliage, it would grow slower, so would eventually be overwhelmed and shaded out by the more vigorous greener foliage. However, if someone happens to find this variegated sport, and determines that the variegation might be an attribute, it can be propagated as a new variegated cultivar of the species.
Sometimes, a plant is going along minding its own business, when all of a sudden, it produces a stem with bronzed foliage, or gold foliage, or leaves that are shaped differently from those on the rest of the plant. Perhaps new stems are more pendulous than they normally are. Sometimes, growth is more compact. It might even be rather stunted and disfigured, branching into a tuft of densely arranged twiggy stems known as a ‘witch’s broom’.
Such growth does not look like a witch’s broom for very long. As it grows, it develops into a densely shrubby mass that eventually gets too heavy to be supported. If the dense growth is appealing, it can be propagated as a new cultivar, like the dwarf Alberta spruce was reproduced from a witch’s broom sport of the common white spruce, or the pencil point juniper was reproduced from a witch’s broom sport of the common juniper (Juniperus communis ‘Compressa’).
This massive witch’s broom happens to be on a Douglas fir. It has been here for decades. It sure is ugly, but also interesting. It could be interesting enough to be reproduced.
Fascinating!
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Thank you. I work with cultivars of plants all the time. To me, some are just weird. Some are quite creepy.
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Interesting….
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Thank you.
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Very interesting and I had never heard of it. You teach us things! 🙂
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Thank you. I think it is a weird topic. I happen to grow a small Juniperus communis ‘Compressa’ in a pot in my own garden, and I really like it, because it is sort of weird compared to other junipers.
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Hello,
Thanks share this type blog on this site,they are more useful to their on site,I think you are manage by them work to understood peoples so you grate work to wrote this post so keep it up i read your post every time..
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Thank you. I intend to continue writing.
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Nice Post
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Thank you.
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Reblogged this on Tony Tomeo and commented:
There are not many old articles to recycle that conform to the ‘Horridculture’ meme for Wednesday. This one must do for now.
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