These plants were planted as bulbine bulbosa, but they are enormous. Last year they flowered normally but this year have grown a wide flattened straplike stem with flowers in a horizontal band instead of the normal spike. Unfortunately kangaroos or other wildlife chewed off the flower before it fully opened.
This is fasciation where shoots and flower heads look like many stems compressed together. It is caused by several things including bacterial, fungal, viral, hormonal, genetic and environmental (such as frost or insect damage) factors. Some plants are valued because of their fasciation, probably genetic. It is not contagious but if caused by bacteria or fungus could spread from infected plants. It might not recur again so I would leave the plant. See the entry on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciation or Royal Horticultural Society.https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=525.
Thanks Mike for the explanation. I was wondering if glyphosate would have had any effect in producing the faciation? The 2 plants showing the effect were close to the gravel path where glyphosate had been used to remove weeds.
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