The dotty line

My lovely Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' is surrounded by babies. I kept referring to them as "seedlings" until I realized this plant spreads by rhizomes. It sends up erect growing stems from buds on the rhizome which produce a single, umbrella shaped leaf. You don't, however, get flowers until there are two leaves.

I had to laugh once I figured this out as it is so obvious from this photo. Look how all these new plants are growing in a row, shooting up along the length of the rhizome which I've indicated with that green line. At least that's how it looks to me. There is a similar line of spotted babies on the other side of the "mother" plant. In a few years this will be a spectacular clump if I'm lucky.

Comments

[Kris P]

It's a fabulous plant for the foliage alone but I'm sure it'll be all the more wonderful when you have one healthy clump.

[Barbara H.]

I didn't know that that was how they spread. I have the plain green ones in my woods and it's always fun to spot them in the spring. One day they are nowhere to be seen and the next day there they are.

[danger garden]

Excellent! My podophyllum have been doing something similar, they even started coming up in the pathway to the patio, which of course is not going to work.

[Linda Brazill]

DANGER — This is a little more traveling than I anticipated, but much easier to control than native mayapples.

[Linda Brazill]

BARBARA — I assume the natives do the same only more aggressively.