Fasciation

This image is of a Goldenrod which has been transformed by FASCIATION. All these images were taken in my back yard and are the same species of Goldenrod.

Fasciation is something that is not really understood by scientists. But it creates cool things to happen with plants. It makes a plant’s growth go berserk in unpredictable ways, growing in a manner that would not normally happen.

It is thought that fasciation happens because of a hormonal imbalance in the plant. What causes that imbalance is uncertain. It could be a random mutation, an injury due to insect action or a disease or even a physical injury. It’s believed to be totally fluke occurrences that are not shared by other plants or even to other parts of the same plant.

Fasciation is bewildering and fascinating.

Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.