At the beginning of spring, my friend Calvin sent me some really weird looking plant pictures.  At first I thought he was goofing with me, but it turned out that the picture was of his chard plant.  I sent the pictures to Jennifer, the UCCE Master Gardener Coordinator, as I had never seen anything like it before.  She immediately responded that the plant craziness is called fasciation.  I couldn't stand not knowing more about this, so I went to my handy, dandy cell phone and looked up this phenomena.  Here's what I learned......

 

The UC IPM (Integrated Pest Management) site was most informative and very concise with several pictures of commonly seen plants with the malformation of the plant stems or fruit.  The example that was the most familiar to me is the cherry with a growth that looks like a beak at the stem.  Also, the giant double looking strawberry was pictured.  It occurs more commonly in flowers than fruit with  sunflowers and roses. There was an interesting picture of a daisy too.

 

The deformation is caused by unregulated tissue growth in the apical meristem causing it to appear flattened.  It can be localized or affect the whole plant.  The terminal growth can be dense and tuft-like as in the chard picture that Calvin sent.  That is called "Witches broom".  Fasciation is caused by a hormonal imbalance in the growth cells, fungal, bacterial or viral infection or random genetic mutation.  It can also be caused by insect attack, chemical exposure, or cold/frost exposure.  However, the cause is not clearly identified in most cases. 

 

If it occurs on fruit, the fruit is safe to eat.  The solution to the growth is to prune off and dispose of  the affected area and then thoroughly clean all tools used.