Is this a sucker or a sport? not sure

[rebelbrat]

Ive had no problem getting my leaves to sprout babies or dividing some plants but came across a stem with a violet plant growing on the end like a spider plant does. I ve never had this happen to any of my plants before. Is this what they call a sucker ,sport or just a shoot?? Any ideas.....Im still learning

[Alaizabelle]

Sounds like it could be a 'basket', I think.... does it look like it grew on an old blossom stem?

[Sparkles]

Boy, I thought I responded to this yesterday. Huh. Well, glad Alaizabelle did. It sounds like a basket to me, too. I included a link to a picture of one yesterday....if I can find it again, I'll post it.

[Sparkles]

Here's a photo I found by searching - it's from another forum

[TriciaB5581]

It could be considered a sucker - which is a young plant growing somewhere on the original plant. On bromeliads or cacti, you'd generally hear them called "pups."

Whether or not it is a sport depends on what it does when it is on its own. Sporting is all about genetics. If the sucker retains the characteristics of the parent plant, then it's not a sport. If, however, it is different from the parent, then it's a sport.

Sports from fantasy-blossomed plants, or plants with a white blossom but dark edge are pretty common. They will GENERALLY revert to the darker parent, in a solid color - but not always. I've recently learned this first-hand, as I have a plant of "Iceberg" that has sported. The "normal" blossom is white, with a dark purple edge; the blossoms on the sports are completely random. Some are totally dark purple; some are mostly white, others are mostly dark with "smudges" of white. I basically have no idea what it will do next :-) It also shows birth-marking on the underside of the leaves, which shows up as spots/splotches of red/dark-pink "staining" similar in color to a plant with red-reverse leaves; the top side of the leaf in question looks almost black where there is birthmarking. Yellow-blossomed plants do this a lot, too, since yellow in violet blossoms is, itself, a mutation; I have a plant "Susie Sunshine" that has some birth-marking.

Since this little plant is coming off the flower stem, rather than from the main plant, it's probably going to retain the characteristics of the parent plant; the only real way is to pot it up, then wait and see!

Good luck!