The strange top on my Emerald Isle! ??

gssgarden · May 17, 2015

It seems to have grown a really thick 'stalk'! One that's all twisted too! Flowers getting all bunched up as well. Anyone ever see this before?

Other than that, she's a nice healthy plant!

Greg

maf · May 17, 2015

That is fasciated growth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciation

gssgarden · May 17, 2015

Interesting!

Any idea about what will happen to the fruit?

Greg

RobinB · May 17, 2015

Weird. The next question is, should you save seed from this one, or does it matter? Is the abnormal growth likely to be passed on somehow? I have no idea!

maf · May 18, 2015

As far as I can tell the flowers look normal, if so the fruits will be normal. If the flowers are fasciated the fruits will be elongated and/or ugly and twisted. I'll post some pics below.

Whether it can be passed on via saved seeds I do not know. If the cause of the fasciation is genetic then it would be a possiblity, but many other possible causes including environmental or disease. Also, I have no idea what Emerald Isle should look like in the first place.

Fasciated flowers and young fruits:

Spinaltap1.jpg spinaltap5.jpg spinaltap4.jpg

travis · May 18, 2015

GSS, I occasionally get that sort of extreme fasciated meristem that appears at first to be totally terminating. I first saw it on a Cherokee Purple in 2006, and eventually side shoots emerged numerously, I suppose due to the fasciated main stem providing numerous adventitious nodes or whatever.

The plant continued to grow upward from the side shoots, some of which themselves were fasciated, and produced flowers and fruit continuously for the remainder of the season.

This plant consequently was rather stout, short, and bushy compared to other Cherokee Purple plants from the same seed batch. I called it "Cherokee gosh darnoodleyation" and saved the seeds, but never grew out subsequent plants, for no particular reason other than my interest in it faded.

As I mentioned, I have had others similarly fasciated, although maybe not quite as radically, since that first instance. This year I have one that had four cotelydons, and subsequently has developed fused (fasciated) twin stems that eventually divided into two separate and equal meristems right at node below the first inflorescence. I will have to go out and look at it more closely, as I have not closely examined the plants over the past week due to other yardwork and then three days of continual rain. But I think each of the divided meristems also are fasciated growing upward ... at last viewing anyway.

This particular plant has Malachite Box in its pedigree, along with Brandywine and an NCSU blight resistant breeding line. I mention Malachite Box because most of the extreme fasciated plants I have grown over the years have been or had a "gf" parent ... also for example, a few of the Cherokee Tiger dwarves I developed from Tigerette x Cherokee Purple.

However, I am not alleging "gf" to be the only possibilities, just the ones I have encountered so far.

Edit: I did not name it Cherokee goshdarnoodleradication or whatever the auto-censor says there. I named it Cherokee "Dang" Nation, if you get my drift.

wormgirl · May 18, 2015

Thanks for posting those pictures. I had not seen a fasciated stem before. Very interesting!

May 18, 2015	#6
travis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Evansville, IN Posts: 2,984	GSS, I occasionally get that sort of extreme fasciated meristem that appears at first to be totally terminating. I first saw it on a Cherokee Purple in 2006, and eventually side shoots emerged numerously, I suppose due to the fasciated main stem providing numerous adventitious nodes or whatever. The plant continued to grow upward from the side shoots, some of which themselves were fasciated, and produced flowers and fruit continuously for the remainder of the season. This plant consequently was rather stout, short, and bushy compared to other Cherokee Purple plants from the same seed batch. I called it "Cherokee gosh darnoodleyation" and saved the seeds, but never grew out subsequent plants, for no particular reason other than my interest in it faded. As I mentioned, I have had others similarly fasciated, although maybe not quite as radically, since that first instance. This year I have one that had four cotelydons, and subsequently has developed fused (fasciated) twin stems that eventually divided into two separate and equal meristems right at node below the first inflorescence. I will have to go out and look at it more closely, as I have not closely examined the plants over the past week due to other yardwork and then three days of continual rain. But I think each of the divided meristems also are fasciated growing upward ... at last viewing anyway. This particular plant has Malachite Box in its pedigree, along with Brandywine and an NCSU blight resistant breeding line. I mention Malachite Box because most of the extreme fasciated plants I have grown over the years have been or had a "gf" parent ... also for example, a few of the Cherokee Tiger dwarves I developed from Tigerette x Cherokee Purple. However, I am not alleging "gf" to be the only possibilities, just the ones I have encountered so far. Edit: I did not name it Cherokee goshdarnoodleradication or whatever the auto-censor says there. I named it Cherokee "Dang" Nation, if you get my drift. Last edited by travis; May 18, 2015 at 01:28 PM. Reason: censorship

May 17, 2015	#2
maf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: England Posts: 512	That is fasciated growth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciation

May 17, 2015	#3
gssgarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: N.C. Posts: 1,827	Interesting! Any idea about what will happen to the fruit? Greg

May 17, 2015	#4
RobinB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Near Reno, NV Posts: 1,621	Weird. The next question is, should you save seed from this one, or does it matter? Is the abnormal growth likely to be passed on somehow? I have no idea!

May 18, 2015	#7
wormgirl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Tacoma, WA Posts: 245	Thanks for posting those pictures. I had not seen a fasciated stem before. Very interesting!