Dracaena marginata

[Walt]

What are these green colored, hard root-like growths on the stems of this Dracaena marginata tricolor, just below where the leaves start? Out of several plants, this is the only plant that exhibits condition. BTW, this is not my plant. I've been growing the regular form for 10 years and haven't seen this type of growth.

Is this just some kind of normal aerial root?

[fastfeat]

I haven't seen them like this before, but sure looks like some sort of adventitious rooting.

[Jeff Searle]

(Walt @ Nov. 08 2007,16:41)

QUOTE

What are these green colored, hard root-like growths on the stems of this Dracaena marginata tricolor, just below where the leaves start? Out of several plants, this is the only plant that exhibits condition. BTW, this is not my plant. I've been growing the regular form for 10 years and haven't seen this type of growth.

Is this just some kind of normal aerial root?

Yep, thats basically what they are.

Jeff

[Walt]

(Jeff Searle @ Nov. 08 2007,19:53)

QUOTE

(Walt @ Nov. 08 2007,16:41)

QUOTE

What are these green colored, hard root-like growths on the stems of this Dracaena marginata tricolor, just below where the leaves start? Out of several plants, this is the only plant that exhibits condition. BTW, this is not my plant. I've been growing the regular form for 10 years and haven't seen this type of growth.

Is this just some kind of normal aerial root?

Yep, thats basically what they are.

Jeff

Jeff: Do you know if these roots are normal, at least in the sense that some plants produce them from time to time? And if so, do you know the reason (why) for it? I tried to do a Google search, and after checking about 20 or more websites I found nothing addressing such roots.

[Kris]

Dear Walt  

That plant looks beautiful..thanks for the visuals.

lots of love,

Kris  

[Kris]

Here is the one that grows in our roof top gardens...

[Kris]

One more of the same..

[Walt]

Hi Kris,

I have that plant in a pot, trying to get it fully rooted. I did a Google search and this plant in fact has adventitious roots, either by happenstance or because of wounding (when it was pruned).

Thanks for posting the photos of your plants (and those Corypha palms!).

Walt

[Jeff Searle]

Walt,

     No, I would say this is not normal. I have seen this happen on many plants over many years, but not to the degree of your plant. I'm not real sure why this happens, but a few things come to mind. First, maybe the plant was injured someway and is now telling itself it's got to survive. Another reason is, from the looks of your plant in the picture, it looks like the plant is sitting a little high up in the pot(?), maybe alot of the soil is gone and the plant is severly stressed out. Did this happen during maybe the rainy season, which promotes root growth. Just some thoughts.

Jeff

[Walt]

(Jeff Searle @ Nov. 15 2007,19:36)

QUOTE

Walt,

     No, I would say this is not normal. I have seen this happen on many plants over many years, but not to the degree of your plant. I'm not real sure why this happens, but a few things come to mind. First, maybe the plant was injured someway and is now telling itself it's got to survive. Another reason is, from the looks of your plant in the picture, it looks like the plant is sitting a little high up in the pot(?), maybe alot of the soil is gone and the plant is severly stressed out. Did this happen during maybe the rainy season, which promotes root growth. Just some thoughts.

Jeff

Jeff,

Don't be decieved by the photo. Actually, what you see is a cutting (you can't see the bottom of the stem) I held up to my interior garage wall for background contrast.

I'm a master gardener with my county extension office and a customer brought the cutting in and asked me what the hell this growth was. I told him it appeared to be some kind of weird root growth but wasn't positively sure.

I checked the University of Florida database on D. marginata and found nothing addressing this growth. I told the customer I would post a photo of the growth in question at this forum. Not getting any specific feedback I did a Google search using key words: Dracaena marginata adventitious roots.

I didn't get anything specific to D. marginata, but just info saying adventitious roots form on stems and other areas of a plant aside from its normal root zone. It said these roots could be caused from wounds.

In any event, I potted up this cutting (applying rooting harmone) to start a new plant. I may even remove some of the stems with the adventitious roots and plant them to see what the roots might do.