# Is it common to see cathaphlys growing before flowering?



## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Hi People: 
I recently had my firsts crypt flowers (Wendtii Brown and green), and what I saw is that around 1 month before, some "cathaphyls" have appeared (I've learned this new word from Jan's website ). And I didn't see any other cathaphyl in my other crypts.

Have you ever seen the same in your plants? Or is just by chance?

This is a picture from Jan's page showing the cathaphyls:










Regards


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

As far as I know, there' no relationship between flowers and cathaphyls. Some crypts have them, others don't. They're more common in mature plants, and since only mature plants flower, its good observation on your part, but both are just signs that the plant is mature.


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## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Ok Ghazanfar, thanks for your answer. I've asked that because my only two plants that have flowered and the only two that have cathaphyls, but one of the is one of the oldest I have, and maybe that's the reason.

Regards


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Well, any flowering crypt does exhibit cathaphyls (some may be not visible and buried in the soil though). In some crypts cathaphyls tend to show up fairly close before plants start to flower (_wendtii_ is not a bad example, I guess); other species almost always exhibit cathaphyls even when not flowering for long periods (e. g. _elliptica_).


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## Khamul1of9 (Oct 25, 2005)

Cataphyll is just a scale leaf, whose function is to protect vegetative or floral growing tips (meristems). Floral cataphylls can be termed hypsophylls or bracts, or bracteoles. Usually the first leaf on a shoot has a cataphyll that is called a prophyll. I love Botaneese.


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