First off, I must appologize. I am behind the tech times, and have only a "normal" (traditional ?) 35mm and no camera on my phone... I have run across some purple coneflowers that in all other cases appear healthy - stems, leaves, new and spent flowers. The berm is regularly fertilized with a standard 16-16-16, and the surrounding shrubs/flowering plants look groovy. My problem is this: On some of the spent flowers on 2 of 3 plants (there are daisies and another Helios... type plant near them) have what looks like another stem growing out of the middle with a gall on it that looks like large seeds existed in it at one time. I visit this house (owner of company) a few times a week, and this happened over the course of a week inbetween two visits (a co-worker was taking care of this for me while I had other priorities). The coworker did not notice them, and they could have been there previously, but not for more than a week and a half. I can find nothing about regular galls on coneflowers (writen or pictures). No mold (looked for symbiotic mycitocin), no insects. Any ideas or suggestions?
Might not be a coneflower! Check out Leonotis leonurus for an example of a plant that puts out new bloom-stalks out of the old flower-heads. I'm pretty sure it's not Leonotis, just by the by - that has red flowers, and you are describing something purple. And if you take a picture with your conventional 35mm and take it to someplace like WalMart to develop it, they can put the whole roll on a CD for you. Then you can post a picture here and we'll have a better shot of telling you what's going on with the plants.
I can't claim to know the nature of this deformity, but it is marketed under names such as 'Double Decker'... are the first of these photos similar to what you're seeing?http://images.google.com/images?cli...ble decker&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
http://www.peoriagardens.com/images/perennials/EchinaceaDoubleDecker.jpg is not quite what it is. Actually, the Leonotis leonurus looks physically right in general structure, but my flower is definately a coneflower. The double decker is really close, but the "second flower" hasn't come, it looks incomplete - no petals. More like a coneflower seed head that has been slightly galled, making it look like the Leonotis in flowering area only. Are these related enough to cross breed? This bed has several perinials, self-seeding annuals, and annuals that are put in it regularly over about 10+ years. (to ignorant of botanical name to know if the FAMILY can cross breed, or only var. in a given species can) Thanks for the suggestions. I will check with the owner, if I can, on what the species is. Thanks!!!!!!
Sounds like the coneflower is suffering from Aster Yellows....Aster Yellows thread. If so, removal before it spreads to other plants is the recommended treatment.
No, they are not related enough to cross breed, and such occurrences are rare anyway. What you're seeing is either the "double-decker" mutation (or whatever it is) or damage due to disease (as smivies suggested) or some physical damage.