The Thing and Other Notes

This “thing” caught my eye the other day on the way to the bodega. It’s growing on a tree that I have tentatively identified as a member of Sapindaceae, the soapberry family. This was not the first time I’ve seen something like it; the growth is common on this relatively common small, shrubby tree. Here’s another:

and here’s one that has done its, well, thing:

What in the world could it be?

At first I thought it was an epiphyte of some sort, but I could not even begin to know how to identify it. I thought perhaps that if I were to identify the tree upon which it is growing, I could then search the internet for the relationship between this tree and its “thing.”

So I worked out a tentative identification for the tree. I think it’s Allophylous psilospermus, no common name that I know of, and I’ll write up the identification at another time. Certain that if I searched for Allophylous psilospermus and “epiphyte” together, then I would find some reference to the “thing.” I did an advanced search in Google Scholar to eliminate articles that mentioned orchids or bromeliads and also that focused on environmental, biological, and medicinal studies.

The result: five articles in all the internet that mentioned my tree and also mentioned epiphyte. None, not one, of the articles looked promising enough to pay for a copy.

Then, as I was reviewing Berry Go Round #25 (more on this in “Other Notes”), I saw a reference to witch’s broom, and experienced an aha! moment. From wikipedia:

A Witch’s broom is a disease or deformity in a woody plant, typically a tree, where the natural structure of the plant is changed. A dense mass of shoots grows from a single point, with the resulting structure resembling a broom or a bird’s nest.

In browsing around a little on witch’s broom, I saw that most examples describe a cluster of twigs being the expression of the disease. In the case of the “thing,” the structure is more like a cluster of inflorescences. Here’s a typical inflorescence:

And here’s the possible witch’s broom in the tree, with nearby inflorescences nearby circled in red. Click on the image for a larger view.

So, then I went back to Google Scholar and searched for Allophylous psilospermus and witch’s broom, and found that these words were not found together in any document. Even a more general search using plain old vanilla Google gave no documents.

So … what is it? Does anyone know? Anyone familiar enough to witch’s broom to say whether it is possible that it might form on Allophylous?

Other Notes

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything at all. The hiatus began when our workload increased enormously because our long-time worker became disabled from sciatica and other problems. Plus, in this household, we have experienced a fractured pelvis, sciatica, and other indications of increasing age, including the ailments of a 15-year-old darling dog. Over the months, we have had a few days of relief here and there, but never for long enough a time to get back to posting.

I’m not complaining about the work! We both enjoy working hard outdoors and find satisfaction in being able to (almost) keep up the maintenance of this place with, for now, the help of a high school student who can come in about once a month. I realize that I’d always been a little vague when I wrote here about being so busy. Probably because by the time I would sit down at the computer, my brain would be fuzzy from tiredness. Still is, but I think I’m getting used to it.

So… some catch-up. I’ve often mentioned an excellent blog carnival about plants called Berry Go Round. I hope some of you have been following those episodes without my reminders, but the least I can do is bring you up to date with the two most recent ones.

In February, Berry Go Round #25 was a delightful Valentine’s Day carnival for plant lovers at Foothills Fancy. Even though Valentine’s Day is long since gone, I think you’d enjoy the way Sally managed to relate all those plant posts to boxes of chocolates! Of course, chocolate itself comes from the cocoa plant, Theobroma cacao. It was this carnival that drew my attention to witch’s broom, so, see, these carnivals are really worth the reading!

In March, Berry Go Round #26 was posted at Gravity’s Rainbow – a neat collection pointing to posts about clubmosses, pawpaws, magnolias, and much more.

This month, I will be hosting #27. If you see a post about plants that you think deserves some extra attention, please send me its URL by filling in the form at Blog Carnival.

Here, then, is a guarantee of at least one more post this month – that of the Berry Go Round blog carnival!