Yet ANOTHER Dypsis Mystery

[Palm Guy]

Hi all,

I purchased some Dypsis Lanceolata seed about a month ago and have found that three of them have come up a pure white color while the rest shot up as green. Is this normal or could this be a hybrid/new species.

Sorry about the photo quality but here is one of the three white specimens:

Here is another amongst some green specimens.

Thanks,

Mike F

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Mike, that may not be a good thing... A lot of times when seeds germinate white, it means they are mutated and lack chlorophyll. They may have a very limited lifespan...

[JD in the OC]

They are called Albino...

They lack all chlorophyll production and will only live until the seed's nutrients are used up. Sorry

[ariscott]

Is it possible it opens variegated??

Regards, Ari

[Palm Guy]

Thanks Bill and JD,

You took the wind out of my sails! LOL. I thought I had something special here...but alas, just a soon to be dead seedling. Hopefully, as Ari suggested, it does open up as variegated. They are growing at a much faster rate than the green guys so who knows? They also have a pink tinge on the leaflets (which is probably not chlorophyll). I'll cross my fingers. Anyways, thanks for the info guys. At least I know to be prepared if/when they start kicking the bucket.

P.S. After doing some research I found that there are a few parasitic albino plants that survive from leaching nutrients off of other trees. One could also graft an albino plant with a non-albino plant and the albino would survive! Anyone ever tried grafting a palm tree???

[JD in the OC]

Michael,

If it would happen to come up variegated, you would see some green and yellow/white stripes on the eophyll (first leaf spear). Your's looks like the classic albino, which is pretty much on death row...

Palms cannot be grafted very easily from what I've learned, especially at the seedling stage. Give it the best conditions you can, and hope for at least one tiny green stripe

JD