Could have been grafted? The bright green branch may be the root stock.
Available-Sun6124
Reverse mutation, or rootstock sprouting growth of its own.
wintershark_
It’s called a bud sport. Basically when the branch was just forming a spontaneous mutation occurred and now it is expressing different genes than the rest of the tree.
Many of these ornamental Japanese maple varietals themselves began as bud sports on less showy cultivars and were then grafted and further propagated.
Those spontaneous mutations aren’t always “stable” though and can revert back to their original phenotype.
You can leave this branch if you like it. It is fairly unique. You can prune it if you prefer. It won’t ever change back but it will not “spread” either beyond its own growth (it’s not infectious to other branches).
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New growth
Could have been grafted? The bright green branch may be the root stock.
Reverse mutation, or rootstock sprouting growth of its own.
It’s called a bud sport. Basically when the branch was just forming a spontaneous mutation occurred and now it is expressing different genes than the rest of the tree.
Many of these ornamental Japanese maple varietals themselves began as bud sports on less showy cultivars and were then grafted and further propagated.
Those spontaneous mutations aren’t always “stable” though and can revert back to their original phenotype.
You can leave this branch if you like it. It is fairly unique. You can prune it if you prefer. It won’t ever change back but it will not “spread” either beyond its own growth (it’s not infectious to other branches).