Fascinating Fasciation

[kdock]

F05 - The what-the-heck-am-I-looking-at squash.jpg

I've learned a new word. Not being a life-long outdoor gardener, I've never come across this. Fasciation, or cresting, can be caused by mutation, cross-bred saved seeds, microbes, pesticide drift, or exposure to frost or freezing temperatures. Some plants do this reliably and with desirable results, like the celosia cockscomb flower.

This particular Sunburst Yellow Patty Pan seed was exposed (underground and under mulch) to a night of freezing temps while germinating. This seems to have released its creative inhibitions. There are other fruits on this plant that display fasciation, and some that are perfectly normal. But this one is just showing off. The flower growing over the top is actually embedded in the squash and the stem on the left is growing from it and sports a leaf. There's a tiny squash underneath, growing from the larger bulb. It's also covered in many little buds.

My husband thinks it's kinda creepy, but I'm always amazed at what pops up in nature.

Kim

[HansV]

Rather spooky!

[Rudi]

That is quite a combination! Was this brought about specifically by the freezing temperatures or can this happen under normal conditions too?

[ChrisGreaves]

... or freezing temperatures.... but I'm always amazed at what pops up in nature.

Hi Kim, me too. I am amazed at the programming that goes on, or at least, springs into life (to coin a phrase) on cue.

Freezing temperatures (temperature fluctuations) as triggers for mutation should not surprise us, since a rise in temperature (from frozen to thawed) is probably a trustworthy sign to the seed DNA that spring is here, and it is time to Get Started.
With that in mind, I can accept that a brief dip into freezing during this stage, with a consequent second-pass at the arrival of warmth, might be enough to trigger a restart of the "boot process".

Running a single chunk of DNA programming code in parallel can cause havoc, as we should know!

I expect that a similar thing is noted by social scientists when a young person is uprooted and emigrates to a new country; the social programming that was begun (language, education, customs) is re-started as the youngster adapts to peer-pressure and gains a new language and other social habits, becoming, in the parent's eyes, a social mutation.

P.S. Is this really a squash? Or is it a zucchini/marrow?

I just wish that my zucchinis would flower, let alone produce fruit!

Cheers
Chris

[kdock]

Rudi:

Was this brought about specifically by the freezing temperatures or can this happen under normal conditions too?

My understanding is that fasciation can indeed happen under normal weather conditions. However, it's more likely when one has "Saved" seeds that were harvested from the previous year's crop. Whatever cross-pollination that may have happened to the individual fruit may well be passed on to the next year's crop in a saved seed. I think it was the freeze as three plants that were planted about 30 days prior and covered with frost cloth as well as mulched have not shown any mutation.

Chris:

P.S. Is this really a squash? Or is it a zucchini/marrow?

Yes, this photo is really of a Sunburst Yellow Patty Pan squash plant. Here's what they should look like:

squash trio small.png

There is normally a little green on them, but they are sweeter and apparently have more vitamin A than zucchini. The other plant produced this:

squash trying to be a zucchini.png

This could be simple cross-pollination with my neighbor's abundant veggie garden. Only two fruits on this plant have this much green on them. The rest are normal.

[Rudi]

TX for those insights Kim.

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris:

P.S. Is this really a squash? Or is it a zucchini/marrow?

Yes, this photo is really of a Sunburst Yellow Patty Pan squash plant. Here's what they should look like:

Thanks, Kim.
I asked because in your original photo ...

F05 - The what-the-heck-am-I-looking-at squash.jpg

... the bit at the bottom looked like one of my regular invasive Zucchini, with a yellow flower atop.

I read through this Wikipedia page this morning. Fasciation in carrots is something that many of us must have seen. As well as (in mild form) in tomatoes.
Cheers
Chris

[kdock]

Thanks, Kim.
I asked because in your original photo ...F05 - The what-the-heck-am-I-looking-at squash.jpg... the bit at the bottom looked like one of my regular invasive Zucchini, with a yellow flower atop.

Chris, I can see why you say that. However, that's just another long stem ending in a leaf. This particular squash has an "indeterminate" growth habit so it sprawls a bit, but it's very nearly shrubby so I can usually contain it nicely in a planter box. It sometimes tries to climb over the side, but never gets very far. It's nothing like my mother's zucchini, that wanted nothing more than to grow long enough to reach her car so it could really spread out.

squash plants contained.jpg

Kim

[ChrisGreaves]

... However, that's just another long stem ending in a leaf.

Hi Kim.
Yes.

F05 - The what-the-heck-am-I-looking-at squash.jpg

Now that I examine the original photo I can see a similar "fruit" in the background, top-left corner.

... so I can usually contain it nicely in a planter box.

I do that two(sic). The zucchini are planted in a raised bed that measures about thirty-inches wide, and that bed sits in a larger bed that is sixty feet along the street frontage and ninety feet front to back.
That's the only way to contain Zucchini.

My squash opened the first blossom yesterday; the cucumber, zucchini, and heirloom pumpkin are yet to flower.
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

I've learned a new word.

And now you have learned not to post a new gardening word when I am stuck indoors waiting for the rain to stop while my jukebox churns out nostalgic music from the 50s!

Kim.png

Chris

[kdock]

And now you have learned not to post a new gardening word when I am stuck indoors waiting for the rain to stop while my jukebox churns out nostalgic music from the 50s!