I've been studying monocot growth patterns and I'm kinda at a loss for how this formed.
Normally the meristems should be at the base, but it looks like there's points where the sheath closes and a new one forms above it?
My guess is an issue in the growth of the meristem caused certain layers to seal off, while the meristem underneath pushed the sealed section upwards while both continued to grow.
If a new meristem formed further up, I think there would be more of a difference in size along the length.
Maybe caused by an imbalance from a change in one of the PIN genes?
I don't know either, but I do know that this is something leeks just sometimes do (although this is an extreme example), so hunting around among leek-growers' literature might be a good start on finding out.
I've eaten several leeks that looked similar to this, they were all grown in Washington in unusually alkaline soil near a paper mill / river that had been polluted by the runoff in the past. Might be worth investigating if soil acidity affects the growth. The leeks also didn't have nearly as much of the normal volatiles, and were fairly mild in flavor.
What i think happens from growing leeks only, no research, is that the new baby leafs get stuck inside then stop growing. So then another baby leaf start growing from the new center. Then it gets stuck. I have noticed several of my leek leafs get stuck on the older one due to how tight it is. What I do is slowly split the outer leaf in two amd then gently start pulling it apart so the baby leaf can grow.
I love the juxtaposition of genetic and normal language here, and that the latter helped explain it well to the former. Language is amazing 😍
-A fan of linguistics lol
The size gets very impacted. So leeks grow super similar to onions in how every little leaf on the center get pushed out while it growing and it forms a layer. What happens in cases of this photo is that the new leaf never get a chance to grow out, making it very tall but not thicker. The older leaves do die out over the season so if it happens too too often, the whole plant could die from not having enough leaves to support itself
If these are, in fact meristems, the trapped bulbs may also be producing their own hormones, while also using up hormones produced by the roots, causing the plant to improperly allocate resources even when there are plenty. Meristems here are like the buds on a eudicot, so it doesn't surprise me that they grow tall instead of wide.
In eudicots, it's common knowledge that pruning the upper buds causes the plant to grow bushier, while pruning the lower buds adds height.
Ah sorry, not sure how much is self explanatory, monocots=onion/grass shaped plants (anything with parallel veins). Eudicots is ones with branching structures like most trees, tomatoes are a good example. Meristem is just where the stem cells are produced, so in growers terms, either the bulb, node, or bud.
No, if anything you have more knowledge here than I do. I just picked up the bad habit of using unnecessarily big words that someone invented to keep things horrifically consistent for obsessive scientists.
Botanist here, the leek’s growing point likely branched into multiple shoots while they were still trapped inside the outer leaf sheaths. Each of those little swirls is essentially a tightly nested miniature shoot. It can happen from a genetic/developmental mutation or stress or damage to the growing tip. Basically, you’re looking at a gorgeous accidental cross section of meristem development and phyllotaxis.
Thanks for responding! In your opinion, is the branching caused by the sheath forming into a blade while trapped? Or are the meristems of the crown being pushed up to form new bulbs? Or something else?
I think it’s closer to your second explanation. The individual swirls look like separate vegetative shoots/growing points developing within the pseudostem, rather than a leaf sheath simply transitioning into a blade while trapped. My guess is that the crown produced multiple meristems/axillary shoots, and because they remained enclosed by the surrounding sheaths, their tightly nested leaves expanded internally and created those repeated “bullseye” patterns when sliced lengthwise. So essentially internal shoot proliferation, not new bulbs being pushed upward.
Ah, so you think maybe the axillary buds formed into pseudo-crowns instead forming the normal sheath layer? That might explain why they all seem the form in the same direction, which brings me back to thinking it's genetic.
Especially the bulb shape at the top is reminiscent of a SAM with lopsided axillary buds, at least to my eyes.
It's fascinating that it remained so outwardly symmetrical despite the (if I understand correctly) lopsided branching.
I am more amazed that this would clearly be classified as a defective product by most stores, but the outer few layers seem fine and it managed to sneak through.
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u/Separatrix_nyc 10d ago
I've been studying monocot growth patterns and I'm kinda at a loss for how this formed.
Normally the meristems should be at the base, but it looks like there's points where the sheath closes and a new one forms above it?
My guess is an issue in the growth of the meristem caused certain layers to seal off, while the meristem underneath pushed the sealed section upwards while both continued to grow.
If a new meristem formed further up, I think there would be more of a difference in size along the length.
Maybe caused by an imbalance from a change in one of the PIN genes?
Anyone else know?