Most odd. It looks like a deformed flower emerging from the center where one would expect leaves. This could be some sort of mixed-up hormonal signal, that makes the leaves resemble tepals. Such abnormalities could possibly be caused by exposure to a chemical or pathogen or the result of a random mutation.
Does that flower-like structure have a pedicel or stem, or does each 'tepal' grow out individually like a leaf?
It would be interesting to remove and dissect it, but that could damage the growing tip... then again, the growing tip already looks severely damaged.
If you do dissect it, please post pictures.