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Two-Headed Echinacea

June 24, 2008

This was in my Mom's garden this weekend -- they are like siamese twins and there are other buds on the plant that are mishapen/elongated. Wwhat causes this? I've heard of a disease called aster yellows that affects coneflowers . . . could that be what did this?

Is there any treatment/cure?

Thx.

Comments (7)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
Aster yellows can cause a wide variety of symptoms. This echinacea certainly fits the description. There is no cure, and I would dig out the entire plant just to be on the safe side. The fewer opportunities for this disease to spread (which is done by leafhoppers), the better.
June 24, 2008
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
rhizo

you would really take such drastic action based on one single flower??????

is there any reason to think that it is just some weird genetic anomaly ...

ken
June 25, 2008
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
I have lots of echinacea in my gardens, as well as other plants that could be affected by this disease. I wouldn't hesitate for one second to remove one if I suspected Aster Yellows.

Echinacea is, however, a plant that does commonly mutate. If the rest of the plant were normal (which it isn't), I'd suggest that the two heads were a sport.

It's an easy plant to replace and that's what I would do.
June 25, 2008
ktdid28
I think it's cool... I love it when my gerber daisies do that :)
June 26, 2008
ollierose
I had a yellow gerbera daisy that did that this year. I thought it was really cool too, but the whole plant dies shortly after I put it in the ground.
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barbidwire
I have some mexican hat that did that. Uh...just thought I'd share...
June 28, 2008
rivers1202
I have a purple coneflower by my front door which sports a few freakish looking double-headed blooms like that every year.....I simply cut them off if I don't like the looks of them. It hasn't seemed to effect the health of the plant at all...in fact, I've had a bumper crop of blooms from the plant this year. It's gorgeous. And the best part is that it was a volunteer....I didn't plant the thing there, it just showed up one day : )

If your mom's plant seems healthy, other than a few double-headed blooms, I'd leave it alone for now. Take a wait and see approach.

Renee
June 29, 2008

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