Nature's Oddities

[dbonsaiw]

This odd three-pronged samara fell out of my maple tree yesterday. Never saw something like this before and thought I'd start a thread where folks can post some of the oddities they have seen in nature (please no pics of inbred cousins).

 

[Shibui]

Can't find pictures but occasionally I get maple seedlings with 3 cotyledons. Not sure why it happens or what it means but the resulting trees show no visible difference to standard seedlings.

 

[KateM]

Can't find pictures but occasionally I get maple seedlings with 3 cotyledons. Not sure why it happens or what it means but the resulting trees show no visible difference to standard seedlings.

From my school years long long time ago I seem to remember it being called triploidy. Plants appear to be normal, but due to having 3 sets of chromosomes fail to set seeds and can only be propagated vegetatively. I think it might be used in horticulture for some plants...