Topic: What is this on my pepper plant?

[Dirty Digger]

I have grown a pepper plant in my bay window. It's a healthy looking plant and has the thickest stem of all the plants i've grown (a mix of peppers, tomatoes and a cucumber), however, it hasn't fruited but instead, it's grown what appears to be some kind of bud/catkin.

Can anyone identify what this is? I have never seen anything quite like it before.

Thanks

[Palustris]

I think that what you have there is a case of fasciation. This is when two or more stems fuse together because of damage to the stem tip. It is not genetic so it is not usually repeated when seeds are taken from such a stem.

[Dirty Digger]

Thanks for the answer, although i'm not so sure. It's definitely only one stem. Oddly enough, it has grown far thicker than all the other peppers yet is the only one that hasn't fruited. In fact, there's no sign of any flowers whatsoever.

[Tee Gee]

By coincidence, it looks like one of the photos in the link I put up earlier;

[JanG]

I agree, Dirty Digger, that fasciation alone wouldn’t account for those fluffy flowers and as far as I can see Tee Gee’s distorted plant doesn’t have the flowers either. It is most curious, and I can only think that it’s not a pepper at all. Does it look exactly like a pepper plant in all other respects? Could a different seed have germinated in the pot and been grown on by you while masquerading as a pepper all along?

Perhaps as you let the plant grow on and mature, it will become clearer what’s going on and whether those rather amaranth-like flowers develop further.

[InfraDig]

I tried the thumbnail on PlantNet and it came up with Thunberg's Amaranth with a possibility of 6%!! Maybe with a more detailed photo you might get better results. I agree with TeeGee, it does look very similar to his (known) plant.

[Dirty Digger]

By coincidence, it looks like one of the photos in the link I put up earlier;

Not really Tee Gee. Nothing is deformed. It's just grown catkin like flowers instead of fruiting flowers.

[Dirty Digger]

I can only think that it’s not a pepper at all. Does it look exactly like a pepper plant in all other respects? Could a different seed have germinated in the pot and been grown on by you while masquerading as a pepper all along?

Perhaps as you let the plant grow on and mature, it will become clearer what’s going on and whether those rather amaranth-like flowers develop further.

I think you may be right. Two varieties of seed were bought Serrano and Cayenne, but that's not to say that an imposter has somehow found its way into a packet.

To me, it looks quite similar to the other chilli's in most aspects, except that this "weirdo" plant hasn't branched out half way up.

I'll get some better pictures up later.

Thankfully, I have a fondness for things that are different, so happy to see it grow to its logical conclusion.