In botanical terms it is called polyaxial growth. Its not a mutation. Its a trait, and its not unknown to people that are familair with cannabis physiology, but it is uncommon to see.
When growers here see something out of the ordinary they often just assume its a mutation because many don't study the biology and physiology of the plant, rather just share grow tips, techniques and follow instructions. Thats the norm. So its understandable why many wouldn't know about it. It happens in other plant species as well.
I'm growing a variety right now that has that trait and does that on each plant, males and females, because the trait has been locked in. It grows bushy, not straight up. It spontaneously breaks apical dominance, but also randomly branches off in various places and can happen anywhere on the plant, even at the leaf. If you want, you can check out the plants in the journal here and check out the stems. It may not do it on every plant... I don't know, but on each one I have grown it has done it.
Thread '
Vampire Lightning
Grow by Afterburner'
https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/-vampire-lightning--grow-by-afterburner.175324/
Here are some random photos from a previous grow showing the spontaneous polyaxial growth. On these they tend to do it as the plant enters early adult stage and not all plants at the exact same time, but its possible it can happen in early growth or seedling stage. I was curious so I just let them grow how they wanted no cutting no training to observe the trait.
Here at node 4 it started.
I like it, its helpful if you want a bushy plant. It's less work to make more bud sites. Overall a good trait in my opinion. I've never seen another variety do this consistently like this one. Very cool that you got to see it with your own eyes. Most will not.
, please show her twins!