Char said:
Adding another twist, found these two fans today on the same plant, each with two scapes and no leaves between. One scape on one of the fans had FFO today, none of the other 3 scapes have bloomed yet. Not thinking I have some new mutation but they do appear to fit what you described
Now that is interesting. Who knows, it might be a new mutation. Is the plant a registered cultivar? If it is, and that behaviour was consistent I would expect that it would have been noticed and emphasized. If it is a seedling then it might be very interesting.
It is possible that there were leaves in between the two scapes originally but that they were small (like the original leaves that appear when dormant fans first start growth in the spring). Those leaves tend to have a short lifespan and to senesce relatively soon after appearing. Or it is possible that something in the growing conditions has caused the axillary buds to immediately become reproductive without being vegetative or producing any leaves. I would expect that to be something that theoretically/speculatively might be possible in continuous growth but not in discontinuous growth.
I agree that as we commonly use the term fan (to mean the set of leaves that looks like a fan), it can often appear as if one fan has produced multiple scapes.
