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‘Saxophone’ Formation with 5-year Sabal minor
by Bob Harms
The 5-year juvenile S. minor in the images below illustrates an advanced saxophone establishment stage. (Clicking on the center of each colored box on the right, will open up a page with an enlargement of that area.)
- At the very top of the yellow box can be seen the remnants of the plumular-radicular node and radicle as oblique downward growth begins.
- Below that area (orange box) the formation of new leaves is forced to develop more or less straight down as the leaf column to its immediate right increases in width.
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After 8 leaf scars (blue box) the size of the leaf base increases significantly and the widening of leaf bases would seem to indicate a transition to adult growth mode typical for the subterranean trunk of S. minor.
- In the enlargement of the green box can be seen the leaf veins with a 180° reorientation as the downward growth is suddenly redirected upward.
