Interesting/questionable bumps on variegated Crassula argentea

Good day, Nina:

I may have the opportunity to work with an old jade in the near future...it is a variegated cultivar - foliage is lovely pale green and cream colored...the trunks have much character, but in addition to that, they have what I can best describe as cyst-like bumps on them...these don't appear as if they are a result of pruning scars or a disease process, and actually I feel they add some character to the trunks. Just wanted to get your opinion...please let me know if you would like photos. to follow. Thanks in advance.

Best regards,
Tom Simonyi

Photos, please!

Will do, Jim....

Regards, Tom

Tom: I have a jade bonsai, Portulacaria afra, which also has some bumps on it similar to what you describe. I think they may be from incomplete pruning or stubs from a broken branch. I'm not sure if the image I'm posting will show them, but we'll see... or not!
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Hi, Alan: Nice tree...thanks for sharing. I don't see too much similarity upon studying your image (however, my eyes are not what they used to be). I will try to post images tomorrow...please have a look if you wish.
Thanks again.

Regards,
Tom

Hey, Alan. Nice tree! Cunning of you to show it to us on the pretense that there's something wrong with it....

As for Tom: you need to post the picture. A lot of plants are sensitive to the crown gall bacterium, but a quick google search has turned up nothing about jade trees.

Hi, Nina: Here are a couple of images as you requested...Thanks again in advance.

Regards,
Tom

Here is one more (expanded view)....

Were these bumps always there, Tom? The look to me like healed-over pruning scars, perhaps where leaves were torn off the stems at some time in the distant past.

Good question, Jim....they appear to have been on the tree for quite some time...I suspect the tree has been in the university greenhouse for close to thirty years, and I have noticed it over the years in passing but never really paid a whole lot of attention to it...my attention is a bit more focused at this point because I may be able to work on it after cuttings are taken. Thanks for your insight.

Regards,
Tom

Maybe you could find an out-of-the-way lump and snip it flush with the trunk with a concave cutter and see what a cross section looks like.

Good idea, Jim...I will do that the next time I visit the greenhouse. Thanks.

Regards,
Tom

Tom: If you want to cut it flush (not concave), rather than using concave cutters, I would use a root cutter which has a sharp, straight blade.

Thanks, Alan and Jim...

Jim: I did cross-section one of the "bumps" as you suggested and indeed it revealed normal plant tissue as best I can tell...so your theory is correct.

I thought I would include a full picture of the tree.

Regards,
Tom

Glad it was simple as that, Tom. In which case, I think I'd perform some delicate surgical removal of the "bumps." You could do it all at once to get it over with, or a few at a time to lessen the impact (if any) on the plant.