I feel like I see all the oddities and weird growth here in Florida on some of my daylilies.

The newest oddity is what looks like a small clump growing at the end of what looks like a scape (no buds at all forming) as well as another clump growth on the side of a flowering scape. Both of these are on the same plant, a seedling (ZZZ36 - Galaxy Explosion x Lily Munster). Normally I would just assume they were proliferations. But this does not look like the normal prolifs I see on any of my other daylilies. And I've never seen a prolif grow at the top of a scape instead of producing buds.

Is this some kind of abnormality? If so, what would cause this?

In this photo, you can see what looks like TWO fans growing in a small clump on the side of this flowering scape:



This is a larger clump of small leaves growing at the TOP of what looks like a scape stem:



Maybe these are prolifs. If so, they are the most impressive prolifs I've ever seen. No root formation can be seen on either of them yet. This seedling daylily looks like a nice sized clump because of all this growth on the scapes! I think there are actually only two fans in there growing from the soil.

And I have to admit that this seedling is one of my favorite children from that cross. It has the beautiful red blooms with petals that curl.

Bloom photo:



And here is the growth at the top of what looks like a scape. This was taken a week or so ago when I first noticed this growth. I forgot about posting this photo until now. It's the same growth as seen in the 2nd photo in the previous post, only this is when it first started producing those leaves/fans on the top of the scape so you can better see the early formation of leaves/fans:



Crazy, huh??

That is very odd. Sure does look like prolifs but usually prolifs come later on after bloom.

Cindy - The prolifs started growing on the side or top of the scapes before it ever bloomed. And the one scape never even produced buds, just leaves/fans at the top that may indeed be prolifs. Too strange!

I hope @sooby or @admmad sees this thread. Maybe they know some info about this strange growth.

Reminds me of that daylily Wigged Out that has a lot of prolifs.

You are right, Cindy! It does resemble that growth habit somewhat. Though mine doesn't look quite like a green pompom growth. Mine looks more like prolifs. Too bad we don't know the parentage of Wigged Out. I'd be curious to know if Lily Munster or Galaxy Explosion is in it's pedigree. I would guess that Galaxy Explosion is somewhere in the genetics of Wigged Out ..... but we will never know!

Don't ya just love seedling surprises!

beckygardener said:

I hope sooby or admmad sees this thread. Maybe they know some info about this strange growth.

Sorry I don't have a clue. Looking at the base of the "prolifs" in the pictures there seem to be overlapping bracts. It almost looks like a kind of vertical compression. It's not normal anyway. Maurice may have more ideas.

I wanted to post an update on this crazy growth. I have never seen anything like it. It appears to be prolifs growing at the top of a scape (that did not produce buds). Now one of those small prolifs is producing a small, short scape with what looks like a couple of buds.

On the other fan of this same seedling (2 fans total), are more prolifs growing off the scape (that actually seemed to grow normally and produced blooms). Crazy genetics or something at work here ....

In this photo you can see all the prolifs at the top of the thick scape, but if you look closely, you can see a small scape with what looks to me like 2 buds forming from one of the prolifs:


Closer view of small scape with buds:


This is a close-up of the base of the prolifs growing from the top of the original thick scape:


On the other mature fan that is growing right next to the one above, is a scape that is also producing prolifs:


This seedling is producing prolifs like it is on steroids! The cross again is ZZZ36 - Galaxy Explosion x Lily Munster. Seed came for Hemlady (Cindy). It also produces what I consider an attractive UF bloom that tends to have petals that curl as the day wears on. It is also pod fertile. (It might be pollen fertile too. I haven't checked that out yet.) Bloom photo near the beginning of this thread.

Isn't this a crazy seedling? I am curious to see what the tiny scape and buds produce in the way of blooms. I will update as it grows and blooms.

I would say that they are prolifs and that one of them has produced its own scape with buds.

Daylilies are a bit unusual in that proliferations are reversions of reproductive meristems back to vegetative meristems. Reversions do happen in some other plant species but I don't think they happen as frequently or as commonly as they do in daylilies. That may have something to do with the actual form of the daylily inflorescence (scape) and the manner in which it forms from the shoot apical meristem (growing point).

'Wigged Out' is interesting in its own way but I do not think that the growths that replace its buds are proliferations. I have not yet tried to root them and if the deer do not eat all its scapes this year I may get a chance.

Thank you for your opinion, Maurice!

I think what surprises me most about all of this, is that the original scape can sustain all those growing prolifs to the point that at least one of them is now producing a scape with buds. I do note that the original scape is quite thick and is not turning brown as most would do over time. It seems to have become a growth extension of the seedling to sustain the prolifs growing at the very top of the original scape. I took a closer look at the seedling and realized that there are several fans (not just 2) that has grown into a small clump. The growth is impressive especially with all the additional prolifs!

I need to read more about Wigged Out. Mine does not appear to be similar to that cultivar. But the unusual growth may be comparable.

Well, I honestly thought that the buds forming from one of the prolifs on that weird scape would drop off, but instead they are developing and may soon bloom. Geez! I've never seen anything like this. I am now curious to see the size of the blooms and what they will look like. Will they look like the blooms that were produced on another scape of this seedling? It is such a curiosity!

This is a photo of the developing buds:


The cluster of prolifs are getting bigger. The thick scape is still green with no sign of dying back like is typical of scapes. I keep thinking about the "Wigged Out" cultivar.

This is a "scape on scape" photo:


And this is the top of the original scape showing the size now of the prolifs. I haven't counted, but I believe there is 3 fans growing on that scape. How would I possibly separate them from this scape? I can't help but wonder if the main scape will continue to support their growth?


Oh yeah ... did I tell you the plant is growing in a container? I can't imagine what it would do in the ground. I better give it lots of room when I do transplant it. This seedling could grow into a monster clump!

I had a daylily produce a prolif that bloomed one year. Wish I could remember which cultivar it was but it was too many years ago.

beckygardener said:
Oh yeah ... did I tell you the plant is growing in a container? I can't imagine what it would do in the ground. I better give it lots of room when I do transplant it. This seedling could grow into a monster clump!

That is quite the monster proliferation! Just what the heck are you up to down there ...

Valerie - It must be in the genetics! I sowed several seeds of this cross. This is the only one so far, producing wild scapes and prolifs! My next idea is to grow some of the prolifs to see what they do.

Cindy - This seedling is from one of your seeds!!! Does the names Galaxy Explosion or Lily Munster ring any bells?

Yes Becky, sure does!!!!

Well, it happened ....

See this thread: The thread "Ackkk! Help!" in Daylilies forum

So, now to wait and see if the broken scape will still produce blooms. Sitting in a vase of water as I write.

But I also wanted to update as to why I was moving the container around. I started looking much more closely at the mass of foliage on this seedling. It makes me laugh to look at it because the growth is so insane. But I love it! Maybe next year it will produce normal scapes and growth, but this year it has sure entertained me.

One thing that I have noted of interest ....

There are 2 scapes on this seedling. Both scapes are very thick. Scape 1 produced buds and blooms and seed pods. But it also produced a cluster of 4 prolifs below the blooms further down the scape.

The second scape as you know did not produce buds, but instead produced a cluster of 4 prolifs at the top of the scape. Notice that I said FOUR prolifs. Both scapes have clusters of 4 prolifs. Not one or two, but four fans each growing together in a cluster around the scape. Here are some better photos (at the expense of the little scape (on the #2 scape prolif) with buds getting ready to bloom):



Another angle of this plant. The blue X represents the area where other seedling are growing in this same container. They are packed in like sardines. Can you just imagine if ZZZ36 was in the ground!



So I took a closer look (again!!!!) and noted that this seedling is ZZZ36 (NOT ZZZ37, so will be correcting that in this thread) and it has 6 fans in a clump at the end of that rectangular container. ZZZ37 is right next to it and is another seedling of the same cross but it looks normal in growth and has 1 scape. Different bloom, too. Geez, Louise!

Prolifs on scape #1:



Prolifs on scape #2:

The broken scape never bloomed. All four buds wilted.

Oh no that's so sad!

Oh no, that's really too bad.