Does Anubias only grow from end of rhizome?

[jameson_uk]

I damaged some of my anubias whilst doing a little reacaping (https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/what-happened-to-my-anubias.53271) and today I got around to trimming the damaged leaves.

This left quite a bit of rhizome. It looks like all the new growth is at one end of the rhizome so I am wondering whether I should cut off the length with no leaves or whether it might create leaves in the middle if I leave it?

 

[tam]

It can sprout anywhere along and make a new branch that will have leaves - I did the same, stripped all the older leaves off one end and it's regrown a little offshoot with lots of new ones. You can also break the bare end off into one or more pieces and each will grow new leaves.

 

[zozo]

Anubias is an Aroid, they grow from Rhizomes. The rhizome you could see as the mother root, it can grow new leaves and additional roots to attach and it can split off new rhizomes (Tams new branch). 1 single rhizome indeed only grows in one direction growing out a leaf, followed by a new section. Imagine it as T pieces of pvc tube stacked together where each right angled tube end represents an new leaf followed by a new T section. And this goes on and ond creeping along like a snake. The best example we have in our nature is the Bog Arum.. Also an aroid and grows in the same fashion. In our country hence it is called snakeroot..

For some aroids to propagate them, triggering them to make a new rhizome the nursery makes a incision in the mother rhizome. Treat it so it doesn't start to faul and from this cut a new rhizome starts to grow. This also can happen spontaniously, but nurseries discovered this way you can force some aroids to propagate with growing new rhizomes. These rhizomes can be kept and grown on its own direction still attached to its mother or cut off and be grown on further as a new mother rhizome.

I guess it might be the same for all aroids, some take this forced propagation strategy better than others. But i imagine it possibly is as a propagation strategy from nature for example when a plant rhizome is damaged from bugs or other animals nibbling from it, it repairs the damage and grows a new rhizome from that damaged spot. A win win..