My 6ft Beni fushigi which is a 5 lobed, crinkled red leaf has the outer half of a small branch covered in 7 lobed red-tinged green leaves. I assume this is a reversion because a very few similar leaves are seen on 1 or 2 small branches among the normal red crinkled leaves. On the reverted outer half of the vigorous branch are only the green leaves with no normal red leaves mixed in. I have removed these reversions which I am used to occasionally seeing on my variegates but not on my reds. So I began to wonder:(1) what is the tree reverting to? (2) why is it reverting? and (3) how does the reversion mechanism work? and (4) how is my tree being served, if at all, by reverting? Any help wud be appreciated.
I don't know why but I have the same behavior with my Tsuma Gaki. I e-mailed some pics to Sam (easfork nursery) and she confirmed that is a reversion. I dind't cut anything but I have the same three questions than you.
Why is reverting? good questions!I see that maple in my garden reverting after stress conditions or poor care;in this extreme conditions for me, cultivar "dead" and the palmatum subsp.palmatum return ....
I can't wait for a botanist to chime in here. But in the meantime, I'll speculate that this particular maple variety (like many, if I'm not mistaken) arose originally from a spontaneous genetic mutation in an older plant -- a sort of copying error. The mutant tissue was then propagated vegetatively, given a new name, and voilà , there's your plant. But such mutations often are inherently unstable -- that is, there's a likelihood the genes will flip to a different configuration, as they've already done at least once. The term "reversion" imples that the genes are returning to the older form from which the variation arose, which presumably was more stable. (You see this with, for example, purple-leaved Norway maples, I think, which revert to the ordinary green form.) But I suppose there's no reason the genes couldn't also mutate into yet a different form -- in which case, what you've got is not a reversion but a brand-new "sport." In any case, the plant isn't doing this because it gets some benefit out of it (though this may turn out to be the case). It's just a spontaneous event at the chromosome level. If you want to maintain your variety in its true form, you should probably remove the affected twigs or branches. Or could just let the thing run as a kind of experiment in living science.
Here is my 'Tsuma Gaki', the 1st. pic was taken two months ago (when leaf out), 2nd. and 3rd. is now and 4th. was a pic taken from Sam's website for comparative purposes only (as suppose the cultivar looks in its original form).
Interesting, I have seen the opposite advice re: variegates - i.e, if they revert then plant them in more "stressful" conditions to bring back the variegation. No first hand knowledge as I don't yet have any variegates. Nelran, does the tsuma gaki show any interesting coloration the rest of the year? I imagine that you have tried varying the sun/shade combo a bit. The first spring for my Wilson's Pink was a bit disappointing: no pink. An unobjectionable color but was expecting something different. I'll take a picture when I get a moment. I have heard that it sometimes takes a year or two for the coloration to come out. This is not a reversion mind you as this is my first year with the tree, but was thinking about giving it just a bit more sun....
Maybe this is an issue with terminology? It sounds like the variegates, in this case, haven't truly reverted at the genetic level, but simply are failing to display the leaf coloring they were selected for, owing to cultural factors. One reads also of plants that won't display their mature coloration or leaf form for a certain number of years. These are matters of the genes expressing themselves (or not) but they don't suggest that the genes themselves have been rearranged, as in an actual reversion.
I don't have first hand experience with Tsuma gaki, but many of my maples -- particularly very young ones -- do not display mature-looking leaves on their new growth. E.g., many linearlobum varieties have much wider, larger leaves on new growth while displaying their characteristic thin leaves on older branches. Some dissectums also have leaves on young trees that are not as feathery or dissected as older trees. Could that account for the "reversions" you are talking about?
Well, Paxi, It's my first spring season with this cultivar also, so I don't know how it behaves typically. That's the reason why I didn't cut anything. Certainly I moved it to a different location, just to experiment what happen with more sun. Until now, it doesn't have any spectacular color and show three different kind of leaves. All leaves are green with some tip burning and not present some of the typical forms and color found in this cultivar. Probably it will take a full year to adapt to this new southern area. I have two variegated cultivars: 'butterfly' and 'first ghost' and both are doing splendid. the 'butterflys' (I have three of them), shows some ocassional green leaves (not variegated), but in general the color and variegation is simply spectacular. 'First Ghost' arrived together with my 'Tsuma Gaki' last fall, so I don't have any reference about it's behavior; but it shows the characteristic leaves and form. I'm keeping them pretty much in the shadow (2 hours of early sun only). So for now, I won't to take any action, I just sit, wait and see.... Nelran
Below is a fascinating read dealing with Citrus. Much of the content does take into account some prior knowledge and background of the subject matter. Chapter 5: Genetics, Breeding, and Nucellar Embryony The correlation with Citrus and Maples is that some people that wanted to have a better idea as to what they were seeing in their palmatum type Maples went back to this Chapter often from the Citrus Industry Vol. II book and from various University of California Hilgardia articles to review and get an notion of what to do with their Maples. It can be argued that research done on Citrus led the way for some very select people to experiment and use techniques used in Citrus with their Maples. The idea of how to introduce red coloration into Seiryu using a red parent rootstock to do it came about from such Citrus studies. As far as Beni fushigi, go back to the nursery or person that named it and ask them if what you are seeing occurred with their plant and if they will tell, what Maple did it come from? If that nursery or individual did not originally grow the Maple then find out who did and ask the source of the plant the same type questions. What some people may feel is a reversion may indeed be a return to the characteristics of the parent plant from which the Beni fushigi came about from. Jim
I found a lot of explanations in Jim's article (far beyond my very limited knologement in this area), but I took a part of it, that seems to me is the main idea for answer the reversion point... "[Synthetic Chimeras].—In early experiments, Winkler (1908) grafted tomato onto its relative, the nightshade, and nightshade on tomato, after which he cut off the grafted plants at the union. Sprouts developed from adventitious buds, and occasionally one arose at the line of the union so that one side of the shoot was tomato and the other nightshade, constituting a sectorial chimera (fig. 5-11). Intermediate forms were also obtained, which when analyzed by chromosome counts and seedling characters proved to be periclinal chimeras (Winkler, 1910; Baur, 1910). These chimeras had one or more outer layers of tomato tissue and a core of nightshade, or vice versa (fig. 5-12). Where synthetic chimeras are so formed, by the combination of different species, identification of the chimeral condition is fairly easy. Forms capable of somatic separation into two types having leaves or fruit clearly of two species have probably been produced by graft synthesis...." Nelran
Jim, Thank you for the great link. vanGelderen in Maples of the World & Maples for Gardens says Beni fushigi was introduced in 1988 by Greer Gardens. I shall email Harold Greer and ask Harold if he knows the parentage and tell him of this reversion. I shall report back. Thanks for everyone's imput. Mike aka katsura
