No clue what it is but one of my grafted adeniums is doing the same thing on one branch.

Yep, looks like it's 'cresting' or otherwise known as 'zippering' in the plant world. This seems to be desirable among adenium collectors but is normally considered a genetic flaw in non-succulents. That said, those more knowledgeable than I am about crested adeniums should chime in as I haven't had any and have no desire to grow them as they look grotesque to me.

Hyn i agree i don't like the crested plants i will just add it to the weird shelf with the other ones. :×)

That looks so cool! I wonder what caused the plant to suddenly do that all over the place?

Here is a clear pic

Peter - you have some weird plants. All mutations happens to you lol.

Pete, I have never seen this before either. Very strange. Could this mutation have occurred from spraying with chemicals/pesticides or something else you've used on your plant? Where did you originally get the plant from? Was it seed grown by you and if so where did you purchase the seed..... or was it a bought plant? Had it flowered before and if so what was the flower like? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just very curious. :)

Either way, please keep the photos coming as I think we would all be interested in what this plant does as these mutations grow. It does look somewhat like a "cristata adenium", but i thought they were only available as a grafted plant....

Isde02 commented above that the same thing is happening to one of his plants, (which he said is a grafted plant)

Rachel the plant was grown from seed its about 2 years old it has never flowered the seed came from WA adenium in one of the batches that have all flowered pink. This plant i have sprayed in my spider mite war's but it had shown no weird growth untill now. It was one of my plants that i had in pots on my fence that the rain affected at beginning of last winter, i had to remove it from the pot mid winter because of rot starting in the tips so they sat in my garage in perlite to dry out for months, i potted it up in spring this is the first sign of growth. I have changed my fertilizer to grow + flower. i think i have bought a house that was built on a nuke waist dump with all the mutations i have had lol. Im looking forward also to see what comes of it.

Pete, you may have been given a different (adenium seed type) from WA adenium that may explain everything. Will be interesting watching this grow. Keep taking photos, hopefully it will flower soon, so we can all see what the flower looks like.

Nuclear waste dump. Lol

Haha poor Pete

Revenge of the Pink.

Wow Peter, that looks weird, yes, please do keep us updated on its progress, it will be great to let us follow this through with you.

Gill

Well, if it is cresting (which you can Google as relates to plants and is more properly called fasciation) it can happen spontaneously. I've had a number of other plants I have grown such as African Violets and once a cacti that were normal for years. But eventually zippered at a later time. Quote from Wikipedia: Any occurrence of fasciation has several possible causes, including hormonal, genetic, bacterial, fungal, viral and environmental causes.

You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciation

Anyway, some people love it and some people hate it. Some people call it zippering, cresting, or faciation so the terms can be confusing. It is usually reproduced by grafting if you find the trait desirable. In many kinds of plants, such as my African Violets, it inhibits flowering but that isn't necessarily true of adeniums.

If a normal plant ‘crests’ a particular growth point spontaneously, could it revert back to normal again or is it destined to stay crested? Have seen crests on my forsythia bush outside but have always cut it out as I’m not personally a fan....but the plants new growth looked just like a fan!

Fasciation is the official botanical term, zippering, which is new to me, or cresting are just common names...but easier to spell!

Gill

Typically from a Crested plant, new growth can grow with Normal growth and this will not become Crested. Whether it deminishes the Crested growth of the whole plant. I am not sure. Have had this happen on a Euphorbia Crested plant.

As Hyn mentions, most Crested branches are grafted onto other root stock. I do not mind them, but I am not a fan of most of the Crested Adeniums. Generally all Grafted onto tall root stock and look Odd, Unbalanced to me. Short and close to the soil is my preference, if I was to obtain.

Rick

I'm afraid I don't know, Gill. I assume it's possible that a plant that has faciated can revert back to normal growth. Just like a plant can become chimeric, it's not always stable and can return to it's normal growth over time.

with my hosta, fasciated growth typically comes with a single growing season, and then all is normal the next season.

I have seen this on plumeria, and recommended they trim the "abnormal" growth, and the plant returned to normal the following season.

Cresting can absolutely revert. If you're looking to maintain a crested look, all "normal growth" must be excised. Cut off what you don't want, just as you would with a grafted adenium that branches out low on the caudex and produces the original bloom.

KO sells a seed for potentially crested adenium, KO_Red Flabellate, which only potentially carries the genetics for mutation ... may or may not produce cresting. It will apparently produce hundreds of tiny blooms at a time. I planted a few seeds to see what I get.

I have a large in-ground crested euphorbia lactea cristata from which I get many interesting crested specimens. Here is a picture of my favorite, which began as a straight cutting and grew that huge crested head. The crest just grows in undulations within itself, pushing the growth out sideways, so it doesn't grow upwards. The head gets thicker and wider. The first photo shows an intact transition from straight to crest as evidence that it is NOT a graft ... The other sides show tissue breakthrough where the crested head came in.

Maria Elena

Nice post, Maria.

Hi everyone been on a 8 night cruise around them south Pacific (tropical islands) it was great i have had a sneek peak at my plants i have flowers at last sadly lots of pink i will take some pics today and post yes Agartta i will put some pinks on for u .:×)

Peter- welcome back, was thinking u in hospital or something. Yes, show the lovely pink ones :-)

I love all those pinks....Welcome home:)

Hi all,

I don't really care for Aeoniums, but I saw this Aeonium Atropurpureum v Crest at a local nursery; and bought it.

Rob

Wow!! that looks amazing halocline.

Rob the top one looks different but ok .maybe that's whats happening to my DR. i don't like that DR neither . Thanks Jeannies the pinks will be going to a good home soon.

I haven't cared much for any "crested" plant I've seen (except the one above). Last year someone offered me some crested Adenium seeds; but I declined.

My Aeonium certainly doesn't have that typical crested look. In fact, when I was perusing the succulent area in this nursery; and saw it, I had to ask an employee what it was, and even though I can identify a normal Aeonium w/o a second thought,

Rob

When these were becoming popular 8-9 years ago, I had never seen them before; and thought they looked pretty cool, so I got one for my Mom.

(One on the Left.)

Slooooooooow grower. Thumb's down.

Rob

Rob i like different plants thats y i started growing adeniums year's ago but i don't think i could ever warm to the one on the left it looks like it has exploded lol .thats why when i seen someone on the forum talking about one of these i bought some seeds

Peter - If you like caudiciforms; I just found this page/site. https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/266#top

There's also another thread I post on; titled "Fat Plants 2" - https://www.houzz.com/discussions/fat-plants-2-calling-all-collectors-dsvw-vd~4590886

Enjoy!

Rob

Thanks mate i will have a look now

Ooooh, that looks like a proper ship! Do tell where you visited, it looks lovely? I wouldn’t have parked up under that coconut palm though, hope those nuts were all secure on their stalks! Trust you had a great time? Been to Green Island off the Qld coast so far, just for a taster of the Gt Barrier Reef, went in a semi-sub, it was ace, saw loads of fish, giant clams, giant trevallis and turtles!

Back on topic folks, sorry...Peter made me digress!

Peter, it seems you don’t have a penchant for pink then, like a lot of folks, lol. It’s certainly not my colour fashion or decoration wise, but I can take it flower wise! They all look nice flowers above, but I agree entirely, there are other colours available to us, and some of those can be stunning. That crest is really curious isn’t it, keep the updates flowing.

Gill

Caudiciform plants crop up frequently on the Cactus/Succulent forum.

Ok thanks paul

Hmm, I had never even looked to see which forum I was on lol. Must have found that thread while doing a Google search.

Rob