Another good picture of the "grass stage" and some interesting information at http://www.floridata.com/ref/P/pinu_pal.cfm
"Seedling longleaf pines are unique. They show no development of a trunk for the first 3-15 years (average about 5 years) of their lives. Instead they remain in a "grass" stage while they develop a large tap root and root system. During this period, the longleaf pine looks very much like a clump of grass. When the time is right, the young pine bolts upward, as much as 3-5 ft (0.9-1.5 m) in the first year."
umkomasia · 13 April 2009
In fact, this specimen has passed the grass stage and is already bolting upwards.
Miguel · 13 April 2009
Most interesting to note how similar Pinus palustris in its grass stage is to specimens of the family Xanthorrhoeaceae ( see: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&photo=28&file=5/327/004738.jpg ).
umkomasia said:
In fact, this specimen has passed the grass stage and is already bolting upwards.
It was only about a foot tall (in October), if I missed the grass stage, then it must have only been a few months out of it.
Corbs · 23 April 2009
I was taken aback too by how much it looked like the Australian Grass Tree (Xanthorrhoea) too. However, having had a look around the webs, they start to dramatically differ thereafter.
It is quite a spooky thing to have a grass tree in your yard and watch it grow around 1cm a year but every so often shoot out a flower stalk that grows about 3 cm a day! Also spooky is watching them recover what seems almost overnight after a fire.
5 Comments
Paul Burnett · 13 April 2009
Another good picture of the "grass stage" and some interesting information at http://www.floridata.com/ref/P/pinu_pal.cfm
"Seedling longleaf pines are unique. They show no development of a trunk for the first 3-15 years (average about 5 years) of their lives. Instead they remain in a "grass" stage while they develop a large tap root and root system. During this period, the longleaf pine looks very much like a clump of grass. When the time is right, the young pine bolts upward, as much as 3-5 ft (0.9-1.5 m) in the first year."
umkomasia · 13 April 2009
In fact, this specimen has passed the grass stage and is already bolting upwards.
Miguel · 13 April 2009
Most interesting to note how similar Pinus palustris in its grass stage is to specimens of the family Xanthorrhoeaceae ( see: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&photo=28&file=5/327/004738.jpg ).
Convergent evolution?
Reed A. Cartwright · 14 April 2009
Corbs · 23 April 2009
I was taken aback too by how much it looked like the Australian Grass Tree (Xanthorrhoea) too. However, having had a look around the webs, they start to dramatically differ thereafter.
It is quite a spooky thing to have a grass tree in your yard and watch it grow around 1cm a year but every so often shoot out a flower stalk that grows about 3 cm a day! Also spooky is watching them recover what seems almost overnight after a fire.