In my humble opinion, I think this might be very important if it is a deformity.
If you have a lot of small fans developing around the plant, this may possibly have
something to do with growth enzymes.
I have some plants doing some strange things. Putting up
buds on branches that are about 2 inches tall, then they die and put out 1-2 inch
scapes with buds again and die. There are many tiny fans around the main fan. The
entire plant seems to be in overdrive.
To see a bud continuing to grow and close around the black stuff really gets
my attention. If the black object were some type of eggs with part of the bud
being eaten away, I can't imagine a bud repairing itself by continuing to close
around the damage. So, I'm definitely interested.
If it does bloom, maybe some answers will arise.
I just noticed Beth, Welcome Beth!!!
