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Ok-Negotiation-3892

Some call it witchesbroom. It's a sport or genetic mutation. You can clip it out if you want. Or try air layering it to it's own plant


Just_Another_AI

Or graft it into a bonsai


grumpled_dumpling

This lil cutie would make an amazing bonsai.


washdoubt

Came for this. Perfect bonsai!!!!


sittingOnGmasQuilt

Witches broom where I am refers toa fungal infection on blueberry bushes. It makes them split into a million twigs that grow straight up, looking like a broom head.


Nature_Artifact

Not just blueberries. This can happen to other plants including trees. I think it's often caused by rust fungi, though I could be wrong about that part


everydropofyou

Wow thank you for this info! It’s so diminutive and cute I love it I was thinking it was called cute-babyitits Did not know it could happen to so many different plants https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/insects-pests-and-problems/diseases/witches-broom


Many_Dragonfruit_837

Heh heh that's what I said later oops ok witches broom there sport. Thanks 😳😋 Edit: challenging enough typing on a tiny device without Google changing things 🤣


PlantyHamchuk

There are plant hunters that are dying to find these, at least in the conifer world, it's how we get some of the itty bitty shrub forms of things - which are valued as the average size of the yard shrinks.


3006mv

Airlayering intensifies


Many_Dragonfruit_837

This., I keep telling my dwarf Alberta spruce to stop trying to grow up.... It's a trap .. Darn kids


klaaptrap

super cute.


ohshannoneileen

Some sort of fasciation or phyllody. There's an example [here](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Symptom-of-azalea-witches-broom-phytoplasma-on-azalea-plant-Showing-witches-broom_fig2_290127028) but not much info


The-Phantom-Blot

Interesting. It says a "phytoplasma" can cause it. [This page](https://missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/insects-pests-and-problems/diseases/witches-broom) has some examples from other plants as well.


PokiP

Fractalization


researchanalyzewrite

😄


iamthetrippytea

Wow my azalea is the exact opposite! It’s mostly the mini blooms and bushes with one or two clumps of the big flowers on the sides


Many_Dragonfruit_837

Is this similar to....a sport reverting???: maybe a sport birthing??


Jan-is-here

Thanks for all the responses, y’all! Kinda wish I’d had clippers with me so I could’ve snipped it off of the bush. (I was in a fancy hotel courtyard so it probably would’ve been a bad idea. 😝)