It seems that the puffy mutated leaves coexisted with normal leaves on the same plants, but the leaves with a normal shape were a small minority in the affected plants.
Out of dozens of plants, only three showed this variation. All found around the same area (next to a rural path in southern Italy, not particularly exposed to environmental pollutants).
The fact that there were at least three affected plants within a short distance strongly hints a these being daughters of a single mutant that successfully went to seed last year.
The puffy, cauliflower-like look of mutated leaves looks interesting. If this is actually a genetic mutation and not an environmentally driven aberration, I speculate that the puffy look is due to a mutation that made leaf veins shorter compared to how much leaf tissue there is, causing it to curl up.
by -BlancheDevereaux
2 Comments
Boron deficiency causes deformities similar to that, with the leaves curling up I would suspect that or some other deficiency (but I’m no expert)
For context, this is what this species normally looks like
https://preview.redd.it/xbihxhgz6lag1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5a4f765089a113d749ee2c5f98564aeeb5460ff
[Source](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/269384656)