Here is an interesting photo, of two young carbeen trees.
Apparently their branches rubbed together while small, and have joined together. The joint is almost imperceptible.
They look like two separate trees, but I wonder if they really are.
For trees to grow together, I think their genetic material would have to be similar, if not the same. As you can see, these trees are on either side of a path (in a reserve at Rosslyn Bay). There is a possibility that they are both suckers from the roots of an old tree which might have been removed.
Does anyone esle have experience of trees which have joined themselves together, like this?
2 comments:
Hi. Concerning the self-grafting of your Moreton Bay Ash trees, my experience is that trees do this commonly at the trunk but not so much at the leaves. I've heard, but not seen any real evidence that root grafting is very common among Eucalyptus, Lophostemon and other related myrtles.
Concerning the genetic similarity of the trees. There might be a considerable difference, given that cross-species grafting is easy in many plant families including Myrtaceae. Consider the Rutaceae. I recently saw fruit from mandarins, lemons, oranges and more grafted onto a pomelo tree. The fruit and just one cm of stem (no leaves) were grafted onto the host.
Hello Brett.
Thank you for your post, and the light you have shed on the subject.
My apologies for my slow reply. I have been away from home, and without access to my comments file, so am only now in a position to respond. However I assure you that your comments are welcome, and I know that other readers look at the comments as well as my articles.
Cheers,
Trish
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