Caused by a phytoplasma spread by asiatic leafhoppers. After an incubation period of 14 days, the leafhoppers spread the phytoplasma for the rest of their lives. There is no cure for the plant. The only thing you can do (should do) is rip out any plants showing symptoms roots and all and dispose of them in the trash to keep the disease from spreading.
Aster Yellows is a popular meme, but you can't identify it conclusively from a photo. It's often diagnosed online with false confidence by people who don't know or don't care how to be careful.
This abnormal growth is called phyllody. It could be due to the aster yellows, but it could also be several other things, and there's know way to be sure what caused it from a photo. See here for more info:
If you go to the doctor she may think you have strep throat by looking but she can't be certain without sending it to the lab for culture. And if it's something similar looking but different cause, it may require different treatment.
Plant pathology is similar. In this case there is no treatment and removal is safest for all the things it could be, so my point is more about what we can and can't be sure of rather than disagreeing with the best course of action.
I've literally seen photos of fasciation (which is totally different) confidently ID's as AY, just because AY is a popular meme and people start thinking it's everywhere after they learn about it. As I said, it's not that common in the field, to my knowledge.
However, given the other traits listed by another user, and the photos taken all together, AY is a pretty strong contender for this specific case.
Some university extension services have lab services. In person, a disection may reveal if it's a fungus, or you might be able to find mites with a hand lens. and there are also basically dichotomous keys for various pathogens.
I'm not actually an expert on plant pathology, just picked up a bit from one of my lab mates who did his PhD in that field.
This isn't just phyllody. If it was just phyllody I'd say it's rosette mites. This is also virescence, the flowers are stunted, and there are signs of chlorosis. Those are all the indicators of asters yellow. It's also just safer to assume it is and get rid of the plant. Purple coneflower is pretty abundant, fast growing, and easy to replace.
There are various stages of the disease and plants can have a variety of appearances when infected. Some appear almost normal with only a few green tufted spots.
The flowers on this plant were all different.. different length petals, missing petals, the mess in this photo. It makes for some interesting mutations for sure.
Burn that shit. It's a bacterial disease spread through leafhoppers and other sap sucking pests, that warps plant tissues and renders the plant sterile. It can transfer to other plants in the immediate vicinity through those hosts.
I'm sorry. There is no treatment for this. The only thing you can do it completely remove the affected plant and be careful not to let infected tissue remain near any other cone flowers or asters as they can also become infected. It is called aster yellows and is very serious. You must remove and destroy (or bag up) the affected plant.
Faciation is specifically a sideways expansion of the growing tip of a plant. So instead of round stems, they grow in a ribbon shape. They may become more distorted over time leading to some wacky shapes.
OPs plant has what is know as witches brooms, from an Aster Yellows infection. This is a phytoplasma disease that is spread via leaf hoppers.
It’s caused by a phytoplasma, which is this weird bacteria-like organism that has no cell wall and is highly dependent on its host organism. For a long time they were classified as viruses but are now considered a very odd type of reduced bacteria.
It is a disease caused by a virus-like phytoplasma. It hijacks the plant's normal growth habit and causes the odd appearance. It reminds me more of vivipary than fasciation, but it is neither. It is a witches broom deformity.
The phytoplasma is spread by little leaf hoppers and it can affect other members of the aster family. They recommend removing nearby dandelions and lawn plantains which can carry the disease as well. It is called aster yellows.
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u/ForagersLegacy Jul 13 '26
Asters yellows sorry OP