This almost looks pretty, and I suppose if I were a certain type of wasp, this would be pretty. I'm going out on a limb (sorry) to say this is "wool sower gall" on a branch of a white oak tree at Fallen Timbers. This gall, as most of you fine readers already know, is the nursery for little baby wasps, and if my identification of the gall is correct, then this wasp is most likely Callirhytis seminator, a cynipid wasp. (Don't I sound like I know what I'm talking about?) This particular specimen is larger than a golf ball but not quite as large as a baseball. And from what I've read, the gall does not harm the tree any, so everyone wins. As a nursery, though, this seems like a counterproductive strategy. This looks too tasty to me, or at least too obvious, and I'd think some forest animal would quickly recognize these as a reliable source of some animal protein. Perhaps the gall itself tastes nasty or something. I'm not sure what this second gall is. It might be a "roly poly gall" though its smooth surface isn't quite right for a match. Perhaps the gall is still young. It is about the same size at the other gall, and I found it at the same time and in the same general area at Fallen Timbers. If anyone is able to enlighten me, I'll welcome the knowledge. Don't Forget: Consider making a submission to the Festival of Trees. Missouri calendar:

• Elderberries begin blooming.

Happy 26th Anniversary, Libby!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 at 1:01 am and is filed under Critters, Fallen Timbers, Green Things. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.