I have got a seedling of silver maple (a. saccharinum) with its leafes attached alternate. As you know silver maple like most maples use to have them opposite. Also its cotyledons is strange. The two of them are connected side by side to form a singel, broad leaf with a split tip. It seems like this seedling and another was born from one single samara. Usually these contain only one seed, don't they? I guess this is some kind of mutation. Have any of you heard of this happening to a maple before?
Thats what is so strange. This is clearly a maple, the singel leaf looks exactly like those two on other seadlings I will put in a picture tomorrow, so you all can see
I now found a blog post with an acer pseudoplatanus seedling with three leafs. I guess thats the same as my single, but the other way. So it isn't unheard of, and also the blog owner compared it to those four-leafed clover one can find sometimes. I just have to find out if single-leafed maples also gives good luck :)
This pic might not be perfect, but one can see the grown together cotyledon, the single leaf and also the small single coming leaf. I will post more pics later on when it has grown. This seedling sprouted a few days after its brother, so I think they develope at the same speed. I understand the silver maple is almost concidered a weed tree in the US, but here in Europe it is exotic and exciting!
Certainly interesting! It'll need more time to see how it develops, whether the next few leaves are also alternate, or whether it reverts to normal opposite leaves. Not sure they are Acer saccharinum though, the upper (normal) seedling looks more like A. platanoides to me.
Michael, I've noticed a wide variation in saccharinum seedlings as they pass the cotyledon stage, this wouldn't make me blink in a seedbed. I like silver maples a lot too, very useful trees here. Huggorm, thanks for the picture. I think you're right, one of the first leaf buds got damaged a little. I often get pseudoplatanus seedlings with 3 or even 4 cotyledons, but the leaves are normal after that. Or maybe the species is evolving? :) -E
We just have to wait and see. Maybe it will turn normal, or maybe just die off. Actually it might be an A. platanoides. I have gott several of those trees close to where I had the pot this winter. There are seeds from them everywhere, so why not even in my silver maple pot. This seedling does actually have three normal leafes: http://www.treeblog.co.uk/viewpost.php?id=68#comments
