twisted mint stems

[tonybloke]

'Bowles' mint, growing in the cracks in the path, next to one of my east-facing sheds at home
whilst gathering some mint on sunday for the 'Pimms No1', along with the borage, I noticed one of the mint stems had an unusual growth pattern, any one got any ideas why?
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[tonybloke]

[betula]

I have never seen that before,a kind of fascination in reverse. :)

[Eristic]

Do you have any bindweed growing nearby?

[tonybloke]

no, david !! nothing else growing nearby, and only this one stem. most unusual for mint.
I'll send the photo's to John Innes Institute (nr here) to see if they have any ideas.

[Kea]

Have you used any weedkiller in that area or could someone else have used any e.g. neighbour?

[tonybloke]

no to the weedkiller question, it's in my back garden, and only the one stem from amongst many normal ones?

[wolfie]

hi tony you didnt get it from our old helterskelter did you mate lol  ;D ;D ;D

[1066]

Can't remember but did you have any of the contaminated manure? If so could that be a possibility?

[oliveoyl_25]

Try to propagate it to get a whole plant that does that  ;D

[cjb02]

I would go with try to propagate it to. If you could get the whole plant to do that, you would have a new variety of mint. Could be a name sake ;-)

[tonybloke]

it's in water, just awaiting for some roots!!!

[ceres]

If it's been growing between paving stones, I'd say it's twisted itself trying to push through the stone.

[tonybloke]

this developed about 6 inches up the stem? the mint has been growing there for about 4 years, this is the first timei noticed anything strange on any of it.
I'll take and post a photo of the clump of mint from whence it came

[tonybloke]

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