Flower?

[claws]

This is a photo of a weird structure I observed on a flowering weed in a field close to my house. Anyone here know what it is?

Kim

[sdwilsonsct]

Looks to me like a deformed flower lacking ray florets ("petals"). Might have resulted from physical damage from a bug, or a fungal or viral infection.

[claws]

Looks to me like a deformed flower lacking ray florets ("petals"). Might have resulted from physical damage from a bug, or a fungal or viral infection.

Thanks Scott. You're probably right, although this structure is quite a bit larger than any of the other flowers. Maybe it could be a seed dispersal mechanism for the plant. I'll look at it some more over the next few days and see if it morphs into something else.