It has rained a lot today and the flower head has appeared. It appears to be some type of distorted evening primrose...Perhaps all of the plants I removed and thought were weeds were in fact attacked by the aphids some of the more eagle eyed amongst you suggested.
The plant looks like a Euphorbia of some sort, and the weird appearance is a type of fasciation (look on RHS website). I've got two Forsythias in customers' gardens where this happens every year to a couple of twigs. The stems become flattened, straplike. It's worth keeping an eye on all sorts of plants for this phenomenon.
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Problem solved!
It has rained a lot today and the flower head has appeared. It appears to be some type of distorted evening primrose...Perhaps all of the plants I removed and thought were weeds were in fact attacked by the aphids some of the more eagle eyed amongst you suggested.
Thanks for the help.
The plant looks like a Euphorbia of some sort, and the weird appearance is a type of fasciation (look on RHS website). I've got two Forsythias in customers' gardens where this happens every year to a couple of twigs. The stems become flattened, straplike. It's worth keeping an eye on all sorts of plants for this phenomenon.