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10-07-2017, 04:19 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Arizona Mountains
Posts: 292
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Phyllody?
Interesting growth, thanks for sharing it. There is a condition called "phyllody", defined as "Leaf-like structures replacing flower parts". I couldn't find much information, nor any pictures that were similar to yours, but it looks like it could meet that definition. "Chloranthy" seems like a similar thing, and a more recent reference ("Plant Form"--Adrian Bell) has a very brief discussion on Teratology, Abnormal Growth. To quote: "Certain buds in particular locations...often have a predictable fate, for example, to develop into an inflorescence or to develop into either a long shoot or short shoot. When mistakes occur within these relatively inflexible organizations, buds may develop into the 'wrong' structure, or in the 'wrong' position, or at the 'wrong' time." "...teratological activity includes either a confusion of the controlling factors of cell division or the activation of the correct developmental sequences in the wrong place,...a phenomenon referred to as homeosis."
Is there a botanist in the house?
Last edited by Arizona Jeanie; 10-07-2017 at 04:21 PM..
Reason: spelling
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10-07-2017, 05:14 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Aug 2016
Zone: 6a
Location: Northern Indiana
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Well, years ago, yes. It goes along the lines of fasciation, where two flower stalks and flowers are fused into one. It's just simply an abnormal growth. Adrian Bell, wow, haven't heard that name in ages.
Last edited by Dollythehun; 10-07-2017 at 05:32 PM..
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10-07-2017, 05:23 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Arizona Mountains
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It's a beautiful book, lots of pictures, and I keep trying to understand his concise explanations, it's difficult with my lack of botanical background. It's not specifically about orchids, but has lots of wonderful information. I've heard about and seen fasciation--seems to be relatively common in the plant world, but this seems a bit different. Interesting what turns up in this world!
Are you a real botanist? Did you know Adrian Bell? It's a small world sometimes!
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10-07-2017, 05:38 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2016
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No. In my former life, I owned a nursery. We are so close to Chicago that it was easy to take classes there, and I took many. I got to rub elbows with some of the best. I also was/am an Advanced Master Gardener in Indiana. But, all that seems like light years ago. So, what he says doesn't seem foreign to me. As ES said above, we probably should marvel that so much goes right in the plant world.
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10-07-2017, 06:08 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2015
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Location: Phoenix AZ - Lower Sonoran Desert
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Plant seedlings, or vegetative divisions, produce growth from a ball of undifferentiated, dividing cells called a meristem.
Plant stems have a meristem at the tip of each shoot. Cells in the meristem continue dividing as the plant grows. At some point the meristem may become dormant, or all the cells may differentiate into plant parts, and the meristem disappears. Plants produce flowers on the ends of shoots. The meristem differentiates into flowering structures. That shoot cannot grow from the tip any longer.
As the shoot grows the meristem periodically divides, and one portion remains behind on the stem as the shoot continues to grow.
In most plants the meristem left behind divides into two meristems. One normally produces a leaf, or a modified leaf. The other remains dormant. The dormant meristem can produce another shoot or a flowering structure.
The modified leaf is often a small leaflike structure called a bract. Bracts serve to protect the dormant meristem. Bracts and leaves are very similar in structure. Botanists say the bract subtends the meristem, shoot or inflorescence. The nature of bracts is often helpful in distinguishing plants. If you look closely at plants, you will often see bracts along the stem in places where there are no leaves. The sheaths around developing sympodial orchid pseudobulbs are bracts.
In Phalaenopsis the flower stem has bracts subtending meristems toward the base, and bracts subtending buds near the tip. The lower meristems often produce stems, which in turn can bear more bract-subtended meristems, or more buds. The meristems can also produce new plants, which hobbyists cal keikiis.
Because bracts and leaves are derived from similar meristems, and are similar in structure, sometimes bracts develop so they look much like leaves. This is what happened to the original poster's plant. If a meristem remains above the bract/leaf, it may produce another stem, bud or vegetative offset. If the meristem has already differentiated there will be no more growth at this node.
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10-07-2017, 06:58 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2016
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And don't forget hormones. What ES said is (of course) correct. You can then see why pruning a plant makes it bushier...
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