Witches' Broom!

    The term witches' broom comes from the German word Hexenbesen, which means to bewitch (hex) a bundle of twigs (besom).

    Witches' brooms occur on many different woody plant species, including deciduous trees such as hackberry, maple, and willow, and conifers such as pine and spruce. There may be only one broom in a tree, or they may be many scattered throughout the tree. In some cases, the brooms are quite large in size and are easily spotted. In others, they are small and well-hidden.

    A number of stresses, both biological and environmental, can lead to the formation of brooms. Organisms such as fungi, phytoplasmas (bacterial-like organisms), mites, aphids, and mistletoe plants can cause abnormal growth when they attack a host tree. Environmental stresses that injure the growing points of branches can also trigger the formation of brooms. Some brooms appear to be caused by genetic mutations in the buds of the branches. Unlike brooms caused by living organisms, there is usually just one broom per tree when the cause is a genetic mutation.

    Found at www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2005/2-23-2005/witchesbr...

    Comments and faves

    1. Bette Norcross Wappner (54 months ago | reply)

      Chia-Pet Pine?

      ;-)

    2. edgeplot (54 months ago | reply)

      Looks like a witch's broom.

    3. peppergrasss (54 months ago | reply)

      edgeplot: Wow, thank you for that link. You appear to be correct - that certainly looks like what we saw. =)

    4. CA Floristics (54 months ago | reply)

      Your photo reminded me of the work of Dr. Sidney Waxman, who died back in 2005. Dr. Waxman was a horticulturalist who developed dwarf cultivars of pines using mutations that appeared as witches' brooms. Here's a quote from his obituary in the New York Times:

      Todd Forrest, associate vice president for horticulture and living collections at the New York Botanical Garden, said Dr. Waxman's importance had transcended the popular plants he developed. Mr. Forrest said Dr. Waxman had "systematically established" the method of getting seeds from witches' brooms, which often appear as large, tangled clumps of branches, sometimes with miniature leaves, on full-size trees.

      Some of the clumps are caused by disease, but some are sports, or natural mutations, with desirable new genetic characteristics that are worth preserving and cultivating. Dr. Waxman was amused to note how many witches' brooms he found in cemeteries.

      Dr. Waxman methodically stalked his prey, marking on a map of New England the witches' brooms he found particularly tantalizing, his wife said. Each year, usually in October, he would visit them. He sometimes used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot cones from high branches, assigning his wife to scramble through groundcover to find the cones.

      http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/obituaries/ 20waxman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

    5. peppergrasss (54 months ago | reply)

      CA Floristics: Thanks for that link and info. Sounds like his wife was an awfully good sport, being his "bird dog" for fallen pine cones. haha

    6. Bette Norcross Wappner (54 months ago | reply)

      i enjoyed learning about witches' broom.
      this is a great photo.

    7. peppergrasss (54 months ago | reply)

      Bette: Thanks! Now I want to go find more of them! And visit this one again at the park. ;)

    8. inatangle (54 months ago | reply)

      This is so cool--this is an LJ entry of yours that I want to go back to. I read it and couldn't believe it--so magical and just weird in a wonderful way!

    9. peppergrasss (54 months ago | reply)

      inatangle: Thanks, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Now I consider it sort of a friend (until the Parks dept comes along and cuts it off), and I want to visit it now and then. And now when I go walking I have a new treasure to look for! =)

    10. scott_rtw (53 months ago | reply)

      Thanks very much for posting to Natural History Mystery!

    11. peppergrasss (53 months ago | reply)

      scott rtw: You're very welcome!

    12. zxgirl (53 months ago | reply)

      Great picture and information! I had no idea these existed. So that bundle is a bunch of needles growing out of a bundle of pine branches? The needles are so thick it's hard to tell what's going on.

    13. peppergrasss (53 months ago | reply)

      I can't really say myself, without dissecting the bunch. I believe your description is essentially accurate. Something triggers a whole bunch of small branches instead of one larger one - it's sort of like a fractal, actually.

    14. nottsfungigroup.org.uk (53 months ago | reply)

      Is that picture taken on Willow as your image looks like the gall of Diplolepis rosae (know as Robin's Pin Cushion) to me. I am no expert.

    15. peppergrasss (53 months ago | reply)

      This photo is of a pine.

    16. ★

      mbiresch added this photo to their favorites. (51 months ago)

    17. Campobello Island (45 months ago | reply)

      Here's an East Coast Fir Tree Broom for your collection.

      My favourite Witch's Broom

    18. ★

      Campobello Island added this photo to his favorites. (45 months ago)

    19. louise mulholland (36 months ago | reply)

      I love this it is amazing what a tree!

      What a find well done!

    20. ★

      louise mulholland added this photo to her favorites. (36 months ago)

    21. BlueRidgeKitties (25 months ago | reply)

      Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Life Sciences Teaching Resource, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

    Want to format your comment?
    keyboard shortcuts: ← previous photo → next photo L view in light box F favorite < scroll film strip left > scroll film strip right ? show all shortcuts