Interesting plant features/behaviours - eg. mulberry
 

Anybody seen interesting plant features/behaviours?

I'm sure there are heaps - such as the way that some catasetum type plants eject seeds; and sensitive plants (other thread) close their leaves when you touch their leaves ----- including venus flytrap of course.

One interesting thing I've seen and got surprised about is ---- mulberry tree cuttings.

There are mulberry trees growing in a nearby public park and I decided to just break some little branches off for 'cuttings'. The leaves of the 'cuttings' were big leaves. Quite large leaves - like size of my hands . I didn't remove any of the leaves of the cuttings. I just popped these cuttings into moist soil.

And what surprised me a lot is that these cuttings just continued to grow. None of the leaves fell off. Big leaves too. The cutting just continued growing as if nothing happened hahaha. Quite impressive.

This was more than a year ago. And even getting some mulberries now (not a lot - just a few - since still juvenile, but better than none!).

Miracle fruit
Synsepalum dulcificum is a plant known for its berry that, when eaten, causes sour foods (such as lemons and limes) subsequently consumed to taste sweet.
(copied from Wikipedia)

I have seen a few of these on Instagram and really want to experience the 'miracle' :)

oh geez yeah. That's a great example ---- cambria ..... miracle fruit! Remarkable properties! That is a good one.

SP, that is not my experience with my mulberry tree--i have numerous failed cuttings to prove it LOL

i have learned that if i cut when the tree is dormant in winter then in spring it does come back with a vigorous growth and usually make it...there are a few types so perhaps it is a variety issue? mine is large black (when ripe) fruit and HUGE leaves, most are larger than a sheet of paper


as for other plant tricks, a few of my favorites are the ficus and banyan trees the way they has thin spindly air roots that suddenly become smooth tree trunks!! and such Seuss-ian construction

i also go to the sight of a field of sunflowers...if you pass it in the morning they face one way, and in the afternoon, the other!!!

I bought the pills years ago and did a fruit/condiment test at the office with all staff. It was great fun :) The resulting heart burn from eating two lemons, a lime, grapefruit, and half a tub of mustard was not fun.

On topic: apparently under the right conditions you can grow a couple hundred pineapple plants from a single stalk/core by chopping it up. I've yet to have any experience growing just one :roll: I think the grocery stores do something to keep us from growing them :(

Haha I have grown several single pineapples from a crown but it takes a looong time


Miracle fruit are fun. They grow well here but I don’t see the need to grow a whole tree for novelty haha

Nice growing tips there DC! Could be a difference in species ....... the mulberries I pick off the tree are delicious, black coloured when ripe - but maybe the leaves of the mature tree at the park aren't as big as a sheet of paper. Will definitely check!

Once it gets to spring time again, I'll go grab some more cuttings and try a repeat performance - but this time taking pics along the way. What surprised me with the several cuttings last time was they all did the same thing. Their leaves just stayed on and it was ridiculous how these rootless cuttings sticking out of the soil with big hand-sized leaves were just growing normally hahaha.

They are awesome trees for sure DC. Once again - childhood memories here ----- the huge root system of old banyan trees - amazing for climbing adventures (but carefully though hahaha).

hahaha .... nice one DC. I didn't know they did that! Looks like nature developed the dual-axis solar tracker system before we did hahaha!!!!!


I still get so surprised about how it makes sour stuff taste very sweet. I grow a miracle fruit plant - not huge or anything, and find that if I don't whack enough sulphur into my soil - this plant doesn't produce much or any fruit. Flowers ----- but all drop off without fruiting at all. But after applying enough sulphur ---- whammo!!! ---- the flowers then successfully get to the fruit stage. Looks like those growers are right about needing slightly acidic soil. My soil is probably generally neutral or alkaline.

Once I get the miracle fruit, I just pack some in plastic bags to put in the freezer - just to have some on-hand hahaha. The juices of a frozen miracle fruit still works hahaha.

And - oh geez yeah ------- the pineapples take AGES to develop hahaha. I've only had 1 pineapple grown from the crown so far, which was a great novelty and celebration that time. I'm still waiting for other pineapple crowns to develop something - nothing at the moment - just big span of leaves haha! Although, the sight of a pineapple growing on a crown is really quite spectacular - something interesting!

totally, the sight of a full-size pineapple on that little stick is comical and amazing at the same time

Mulberry......
Take care where those are planted as the roots are very vigorous!
I recall a friend planting a seedling tree then finding out it wasn't the best tree for a suburban block.
They dug out the tree after only a few months in their garden and thought that was the end of the issue.
For months after the plant was removed roots that were missed in the first removal kept pushing new growths even after repeated removals. This went on for at least a year. Even using a poison required several applications.
On the plus side I read somewhere that the roots of a quick growing/persistent grower could be blended into a solution that can be used to water other plants.
This blended concoction could possibly contain the vigour of the original plant.
Don't know if it does work but would like to see a study of some kind, even a home grown study.

Wow !!!! Thanks for the warning on that Diane!

I didn't know about that. I knew that big figs/ficus can have powerful roots ------ need to keep them well away from the house, or maybe even nowhere near the house hahahaha. Their roots will bust piping etc, and more.