What is this in my scrub oak?

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bbrookrd Nantucket, MA(Zone 7a) Aug 24, 2007

My DH found one of these on the ground under the Quercus ilicifolia (scrub Oak) then found one growing in the tree. Thanks, Patti

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bbrookrd Nantucket, MA(Zone 7a) Aug 24, 2007

Second picture of it growing in the tree. Thanks, Patti

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Aug 24, 2007

I'm going to guess a gall of some sort, I see those on oaks around here all the time.

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Aug 24, 2007

Yep, galls, caused by a gall wasp.

Resin

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bbrookrd Nantucket, MA(Zone 7a) Aug 24, 2007

Thanks all. I looked it up and it appears to be Oak Apple Gall

http://www.jmu.edu/biology/k12/galls/oakapp.htm

* A common gall on black and spanish oak
* Also called "spongy oak apple," "apple gall," "King Charles' apple"

Quoting:
* In May, a wingless Biorhiza pallida female(P1) inserts her eggs into the base of a vegetative bud. This activates the oak into the process of forming a protective structure, the gall, around the eggs.
* The unilocular, multilarval oak apple gall matures in June and July.
* By late July, full winged male and female wasps (F1), that have developed in separate galls, exit the structures through exit holes.
* The emerging wasps mate, while the deserted gall shrinks and blackens.
* The fertile females burrow into the soil and insert their eggs into the oak tree's roots.
* Root galls form which are spherical, brown, unilocular, and unilarval.
* These root galls mature in approximately 16 months.
* Wingless females(F2) emerge, climb up the oak tree's trunk, and lay eggs in the leaf buds.
* The cycle continues to show alternation of generations.


I never noticed them before, but no doubt they have always existed in our many scrub oaks. Patti





This message was edited Aug 24, 2007 11:41 AM

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cyra Central Valley, CA(Zone 9b) Aug 24, 2007

These galls were once used to make ink, btw...

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bbrookrd Nantucket, MA(Zone 7a) Aug 24, 2007

The things you learn on DG are amazing. Thanks, Patti

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