6 Most Common Weed Mutations And How to Spot Them

3. Whorled Phyllotaxy—Three Leaves From a Node

Some plants are trifoliate, meaning they suffer from a deformity or mutation in which three cotyledons emerge from the first node instead of the usual two. This condition usually only affects plants in the earliest stages of life, and they tend to discontinue the weird behavior as they mature (ie. after the fifth set of nodes or so).

Keep in mind however that trifoliate plants, or those with whorled phyllotaxy, tend to exhibit more hermaphroditic behavior and are also much more likely to turn out to be males when flowered. Best to get rid of them.