I suppose I should have taken a more flattering picture of this.
Here:
A few years ago, I found an interesting broom in a Pinus ponderosa. The resulting seedlings (those which were not eaten by the slugs) were not visibly dwarfed, except for this individual. Its needles are less than 1/4 the length of a normal individual. It is only three years old, but the internodes (the amount of growth each year) are quite small. I think that this plant will end up being a true dwarf.
Its siblings are all much larger. Only one is visibly typical. Here it is, compared to the dwarf:
The others are still kind of ambiguous, though I think their true nature will become apparent during this growing season. Some of them have more lateral buds than normal- another sign of dwarfing.
I think I may actually prefer to grow out seeds from brooms as a way to produce new plants. The results are sometimes surprising. I will have to get out in the woods and hunt down some more brooms with cones this year!
