Sunday, April 1, 2018

A Nameless Dwarf


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!

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