Genets in Brodiaea matsonii

Today I de-potted a pot of Brodiaea matsonii. The 1-gal pot was the only pot of 4 pots which flowered in 2011; upon inspection, the mode of vegetative propagation was readily apparent. Daughter bulbs begin on the stem (putative in the sense that I refer to the portion of the corm just apical of the root pad). Being lax, I did not consult literature (Mecalf & Chalk would probably prove me anatomically wrong). The photo shows three large corms, each with a genet attached (Left to Right: 3 o’clock, noon, and 7 o’clock).

In monocots such as Brodiaea, vegetative propagation is perhaps numerically more important demograpically than sexual reproduction.