1 to 5 Leaflets

[Verdant Whisperer]

Growing Orissa, and some F1's I made from (Blue Satellite (M) x Manga Rosa (F) that i named Carambola, which translates to Starfruit in English. One of the Orissa seedlings skipped the 3 leaflet leaf stage and went from 1 to 5 and this plant is twice the size of the rest, for me it is a sighn of extreme vigor at the seedling stage. I observed this same trait in one of the F1's i started recently as well. I am curious for input and experience into this, as i couldn't find a thread on this subject. Green pot is orissa, other is the Carambola F1

 

[VerdantGreen]

I would imagine that leaflet count is related to root-mass and the count goes up as the root mass increases and can support more leaf area... so yes i would agree that it is related to vigor.

Some plants are unusual and will only produce a max number of leaflets and not go over it ( for example i think the UK Cheese clone has leaves with a maximum of 5 leaflets iirc ) but these are an exception to the rule.
VG