Caudex Wounds....How Do They Heal?

14 years ago

If a small section of the caudex has a pruning cut, or wound, what would be the healing process?

For example:

You want to eliminate/prune a branch from the top of an Adenium caudex, so you take a sharp, sterilized razor-knife, and prune the branch/stem. On the caudex, is left, a pruning cut that will eventually dry out and form a callus. Or maybe there is a small spot of damaged tissue on the caudex, and it doesn't lead to further rotting...how does the caudex heal?

Will tissue form under the pruning scar/damage, and eventually "push" off the callus/damage and replace it with a new, healthy, skin layer, or does the caudex grow around, and encapsulate the callus/damage and cover it over with new tissue? I hope it's the first process that will eliminate, rather that grow-around damaged tissue.

Can a damaged area, or pruning cut be treated/dusted with powdered cinnamon?

Thanks for the information.

Frank

Featured Answer

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

14 years ago

Where animals and humans are regenerating organisms, plants are generating organisms. Expanding on that thought, we find that wounds close, but don't heal. 'Healing' implies the growth of new tissue to replace the damaged tissue in the same spatial plane (animals - regeneration), but what really happens is, the plant reacts by chemically walling off the injury so infections resulting from it cannot spread to the rest of the plant, then it forms callus around the wound (generation).

Eventually, the cambium will roll into the wound from all sides as callus closes the wound. This will leave permanent evidence of the wound, should the caudex ever be dissected at a later date. As the periderm (outer skin) on the caudex continues to grow in the wound area, it will begin to look more & more like the the rest of the periderm, until all you'll notice after a few years is a little variation of the cracks/sloughing of the periderm in the area of the wound. Eventually, even that will become virtually unnoticeable.

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Comments (8)

cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
14 years ago
I cannot give you the specifics you're looking for, but the last question's answer is a yes.
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cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
14 years ago
So it's nothing more than healing?
caudex1
14 years ago
I don't know how plants heal but they miraculous at staying alive.

There was some rot in one of the branches I was trying to stop. The plant took over and aborted the the area (see fissure in photo)
{{gwi:531817}}

AS for treatments, everyone has their remedies. Cinnamon, fungicide and so. Me, I don't add anything. Just make sure there is plenty of air circulation to speed callusing.
bronxfigs: New York City/7b
Original Author
14 years ago
Very interesting.

Frank
HU-318827655
2 years ago
Can the wound form feeder roots? I’d like more feeder roots on mine.
41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)
2 years ago
The contrast between the plant and animal kingdoms is fascinating! There are many parallels. Sex evolved in both to mix up the gene pool, both plants and animals evolved to be independent of free water for fertilization to occur (fish, frogs and algae, mosses, ferns, cycads and ginkgos all need liquid water for fertilization to occur; higher plants and animals do not depend on water for fertilization), Here is a big difference, HEALING ONLY occurs in the ANIMAL kingdom, plants SEAL OFF the dead tissue and manage to grow around it. I learned this having to deal with DEER in NJ and the annual rut. Most all my trees eventually got rutted in a season. Almost ALL survived the rut, the damage will NEVER HEAL but the tree will "compartmentalize" the damage, and grow, new living tissue over the dead tissue. Hope this answers your question.
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
To answer the question "Can the wound form feeder roots?" and presumably you're still talking about a wounded caudex, the answer is 'YES, under favorable conditions'. (BTW - all roots start out as feeder roots. As they grow/ thgickin, they become incapable of growing the almost microscopically fine 'hair roots' which do all the plant's heavy lifting in terems of water/ nutrient uptake.) Wounds are initially covered by callus, which consists of groups of unorganized heterogenous (dissimilar) cells that arise from several source cells in the plant's vasculature, cortex, or cambium. Stimulation of tissues capable of producing callus is caused by a mixture of two growth regulating chemicals, auxin and cytokinin. Most callus tissue is pluripotent, meaning the callus tissue is fully capable of morphing into organized cells (meristematic regions) which in turn are capable of producing new stems or roots, depending on what stimuli they receive.

Read more about how plants heal in the featured answer below the original post.

Al