Galls

This entry isn't really about a specific plant, but about growths on plants that are induced by insects. I had never heard of, or noticed "galls" (there is a good description of galls at this link) until one day, on my way to take a picture of another plant, I found this growth on a wee Aspen tree and I had to know what caused it:

2007 July 7

2007 July 7

2007 July 7

I searched the net and found a site from Finland that had a very similar picture. It seems that this is an aphid gall. In the last picture you'll see an Ant in the hole. When my husband picked the gall off of the little aspen and opened it up, ants poured out. Hmmmm ... a handy little aphid farm for them.

Actually, the very first gall I ever noticed, I had taken a picture of a few days before. A mystery, I popped in my investigative file. This one was on a rose bush at the coast:

2007 July 4

I'm thinking this must be a "Spiny Rose Gall" and if so, this gall is produced by a wasp.

We began to notice more of these aberations. Here is another gall found on a rose:

2007 July 31

2007 July 20

Not a very clear picture, but here is one on a willow:

2007 July 20

Yet another gall on a tree that looks like some sort of poplar but in a location you'd normally not find a poplar (there must be an underground sorce of water). This tree was just loaded with these galls:

2007 August 12

I posted this entry, went outside to check on the garden, and found yet another gall. I found two of these galls, growing on the tips of two willow branches right in our yard:

2007 August 13
A rosette or cone like gall made by some sort of fly. I'm hopefully awaiting an identification.
This time I broke the gall open to take a picture of what lay inside:

2007 August 13

Only one small larva, about 4 mm long, was inside. Such a big gall for such a little midge.

2007 August 13

2008 February 24

My husband cut down a small pine and found two growths on it ...

2008 June 4

Western Gall Rust . This gall is produced by a fungus rather than an insect. The Natural Resources Canada site says:

"Damage, symptoms and biology
The fungus causes a gall that encircles the stem or bole of infected trees. White blisters develop at the site of the gall, just beneath the bark. In spring, the blisters burst and orange spores are released which end up infecting other pines. Rupturing of the blisters results in desiccation of the underlying living bark, killing the bark area around the gall. Following the death of the water-conducting tissues, some needles will die in the lower part of the branch, near the distal portion of the gall."

While driving through the countryside I noticed a bush loaded with berries. When I got out to investigate I found not berries but ...

2008 July 16
Yes, a gall! The bush was loaded with them.
Nice plump, red, berry-like galls. Each gall housed:

2008 July 16
... one small worm. I wonder what it will turn out to be?

I'm sure, that once you start to look, you'll notice many more of these growths yourself ... there seems to be a plethora of gall type growths out there!