When you look up into the bare branches of some oak trees at this time of year, you can see ball-shaped growths hanging there, looking almost like nature’s Christmas ornaments. These are galls. A gall ...

Galls are growths on leaves, stems, branches, trunks, and roots caused by various agents. But they are usually induced by either insects or a fungus of some sort. The exact manner in which insect ...

What are these blister-like things on the leaves of my oak tree? Will it harm them? P.T., Tulsa The structure on your leaves is a common oak leaf gall and will not harm a mature tree. Galls are ...

Hundreds of species of small wasps called gall wasps live in the forests of North America. Hundreds more species of them are spread worldwide. In Southeast Missouri oak trees are a favorite host plant ...

The relationships that have evolved between plants and animals over many millennia of time spent coexisting are often as interesting as they are vast and varied. From the production of nectar and ...

Dear Reader: These are galls that have resulted from the stings of the tree tissue by a small wasp as she lays her eggs in the current season’s growth. Oaks are host plants to scores of different ...

A gall is an abnormal growth or swelling of a plant caused by hormones released from insects, mites, bacteria, or nematodes. They can appear on any part of the plant with vast variation in morphology, ...

Not everyone seems to get as excited about galls as I do. A gall is an abnormal growth on a plant. Galls can occur anywhere– leaves, stems or roots and are usually caused by insects, fungi, or ...

Woolly oak gall Goldenrod ball gall and bunch gall on same plant. Ruth Smith photo. Oak apple gall. Ruth Smith photo. A friend sent me a text message recently in which she asked, “Any idea what these ...

Two species of Bootanomyia dorsalis wasps introduced to North America from Europe A, B variation in the extent of wing infumation from a single collection of B. dorsalis sp. 2 from Neuroterus ...

The gall wasp group (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) represents an exceptional model for understanding ecological interactions, evolutionary innovation and the dynamic interplay between insects and their host ...