{"id":3206,"date":"2019-10-03T00:12:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T07:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-838\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T10:54:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T17:54:51","slug":"fasciation-or-crested-growth-in-plants","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/fasciation-or-crested-growth-in-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"fasciation or crested growth in plants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The ends of some of my <em>Daphne odora<\/em> branches look like several branches fused together. What causes this, and is there something I should do?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What you are describing sounds like fasciation, which is a kind of genetic mutation. Professor T. Ombrello of the department of biology at Union County College describes this condition:<br \/>\nExcerpt:<br \/>\n&#8220;One interesting type of mistake that is occasionally found in plants is known as a fasciated or crested growth form. It is usually the result of a growing point changing from a round dome of cells into a crescent shape. Subsequent growth produces a flat stem. In some cases fasciation is the result of several embryonic growing points fusing together, with the same flat-stem appearance. [&#8230; ] What causes plants to produce fasciated stems? For the most part, we just don&#8217;t know. Fasciation has been induced experimentally by applications of plant hormones, severe pruning, wounding, and atypical day lengths. Most, however, appear by chance with no obvious cause.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>University of Arkansas Extension addresses the phenomenon of <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20211015230940\/https:\/\/www.uaex.edu\/yard-garden\/resource-library\/plant-week\/fasciated-2-22-08.aspx\">fasciation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Possible causes for this condition:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>bacterial infection<\/li>\n<li>inherited genetic trait<\/li>\n<li>herbicide, insect, or physical damage to the growing tip<\/li>\n<li>garden conditions that favor rapid growth<\/li>\n<li>spontaneous mutations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are good illustrations and explanations on the blog of <a href=\"https:\/\/tentativeplantscientist.wordpress.com\/2014\/08\/11\/fasciation\/\">Tentative<br \/>\nPlant Scientist<\/a>, as well.<\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t need to do anything, unless you would like to remove the odd-looking growth. You may want to look into whether herbicide has been used, or if there have been insects feeding on your Daphne. Also, avoid over-fertilizing, which could promote excessively fast growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ends of some of my Daphne odora branches look like several branches fused together. What causes this, and is there something I should do? What you are describing sounds like fasciation, which is a kind of genetic mutation. Professor T. Ombrello of the department of biology at Union County College describes this condition: Excerpt: &#8220;One interesting type of mistake that is occasionally found in plants is known as a fasciated or crested growth form. It is usually the result&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/fasciation-or-crested-growth-in-plants\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">fasciation or crested growth in plants<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[930,467],"class_list":["post-3206","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-fasciation","keyword-mutation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/3206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=3206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}