Sharon Long t first, it sounds catastrophic.
Some cells receive mysterious signals and begin dividing rapidly.
They form one tumor, and then another. But these are not cells of the breast, or colon, or even of people. They are root cells of the alfalfa plant, and the tumors they form are root nodules that help fix nitrogen and promote growth. But there may be thousands more. It may turn out that some of these can be identified first most easily in plants.