Abnormal number of cotyledons?

Does it mean anything when a seedling has an extra cotyledon? I have several castor beans coming up with 3 instead of 2. It seems to be a frequent occurence to tell you the truth but since we have this nifty new forum here with quite a lot of experts hanging around I thought I'd throw the question out there.

Thanks!
Lynn

I wish I knew the answer to that, Lynn. What I would do is just continue to watch the development of these plants and see if anything else different or unusual occurs in the plants once they become mature. If so - - you may have something of interest there! Time will tell. AND if so, please share your findings and any photos of it with us. :-) Interesting!

Thanks,
~Margie

Oh, if I only had room to do that :( If I knew they (or their seedlings( would likely do something interesting I might be swayed to save them. Ah, well, maybe I can find some room for them, we always need shade here lol

Thanks for replying!

Lynn,

I see zinnia seedlings with three cotyledons from time to time. I have seen a few this Spring. Usually it doesn't come to anything and the true leaves are born in pairs. However, occasionally the "plan of three" thing is continued as the main stem develops and the true leaves are born in threes instead of the usual pairs. This is a current example that is growing under my fluorescent lights.

MM

Thanks for the reply MM. I have in fact been looking for differences in the true leaves and they have all been very normal, they are now compost lol

You know I had an MG that had a stem with leaves first, then the cotyledons finally appreared further up on the stem, I thought at first I was mistaken, I don't think I took a photo, and I'll see if I find the plant.. Several are crosses, so anything is possible I guess..

That is too weird!

This is the 2nd year I have a morning glory with a double stem, like conjoined twins.. the one last year produced identical flowers to its attachment..lol this year, I got one, i've also lost quite a few seedlings (20 out of 200) to wilt and I think it was the potting soil I used this year. Last year only a couple lost to wilt out of 250 some.

I'm beginning to wonder if the soak method with superthrive/peroxide is causing some of these things.

I had 2 red runner beans do that this year, double stems, I did nothing out of the ordinary for them....something in the air this year?

Tri-cotyledons have actually been breed for with some plants like sunflowers. It appears to have a genetic basis as do other rare variations in cotyledons that you may have noticed in your seedling bed. Most don't keep track of them though and breed tri-cotyledon to tri-cotyledon.