its rare.. but not unheard of.. in horticulture in general ..

enjoy it.. study it ... and it will go away on its own ...

we call them TERMINAL WHITES in the hosta world... with no chlorophyll ... unless they green up.. later in the season.. they will die ...

can you tell if its off the big tree.. or a seedling??? .. the seedling will die for sure.. but even an all white bud/branch off the big tree.. will eventually fail ... and its not worth grafting.. since it will be terminal ..

ken

Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 10:19

It is an off shoot, not seedling. The top of the tree was significantly removed last year to give way for electricity cable. I am sorry to learn that it is terminal ... how sad. It is quite beautiful though.

odds of it being stable are low. like winning the lottery kind of low. mark the location for future reference, and if the same occurs next year, then maybe you can start thinking about what to do with it.

and do something to keep that idiot with the weedwhacker away from it... lol

ken

Posted by strobiculate none (My Page) on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 13:04

I thought it is terminal. Is there anyway to save it? I observed the stems, they are slightly green though.

This happens with Redwoods too. In this article they call them "parasitic albinos".

As with the Redwoods, I highly doubt this could survive on its own, but it would certainly make quite a yard oddity if you protected it and allowed it to grow large. Just make sure the parent tree never dies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Albino parasite redwoods

Posted by famartin z5 NE NV (My Page) on Sun, Jun 9, 13 at 0:47

A "parasitic albinos" ... how interesting! Let's see how big it grows into.