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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Random plant event: Gasterworthia keiki?

They probably wouldn't be called that, of course. But it seems like the same basic idea as with keiki on the bloom stalks of Phalaenopsis or other orchids. The Gasterworthia I bought a little over a month ago grew what appear to be tiny plantlets on its flower stalk --


-- which is something I hadn't heard of Gasterias or Haworthias doing before. Maybe you have. I don't know. The larger of the two (above) fell apart as I was trying to remove it from the stalk; the smaller one was successfully planted, and we'll see whether it's as successful in rooting and becoming a new plant.


Is this something everybody but me already knew about? And if so, what does one call the plantlets produced on a Gasterworthia flower stalk? "Offsets" doesn't sound quite right, but neither does "keiki." . . .
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7 comments:

  1. ClaudeMay 26, 2010 at 4:35 AM

    never heard of this either... but certain agave's do this, and so do certain bromiliads. And all the spiders on spider plants are is this...

    usually they're referred to as plantlets... but I don't think that's the technical term.

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  2. DonMay 26, 2010 at 5:26 AM

    On daylilies they're called "proliferations".

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  3. LaddieMay 26, 2010 at 7:12 PM

    Those are really cool.

    Off topic: Stop by my blog. I have a picture of a Tradescantia you may like that I came across in the greenhouse this week.

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  4. peterMay 26, 2010 at 9:38 PM

    We call them plantlets. On agaves they're called bulbiles which are different, or so I imagine.

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  5. NickMay 27, 2010 at 2:27 AM

    Haworthia in section Robustipedunculares do this sometimes. I've never seen it on Gasteria before though.
    http://www.haworthia.com/Sheets/DEM427.htm

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  6. RichMay 30, 2010 at 11:41 PM

    There are several succulents that do this, Aloe Bulbillifera and several types of agave and puya to name a few. I have heard it referred to as a bulbil.

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  7. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2014 at 7:16 PM

    I have the same gasterworthia and it came with three of these on two spent flower stems. The flower spike last summer didn't produce any but it's growing another one now so I'm hoping for more babies! I read somewhere that haworthias will do this if you cut the stem before it blooms leaving a few of the lower nodes to sprout. Didn't work on the turgida, but I'll be trying it on the cuspidata and 'lime green' soon. Not the mirabilis tho, still trying to give away the 60 offsets I thinned out last spring.

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