Here’s my first contribution!
This is a “t-distichum-starburst-gall” on our Baldcypress. It is actually an undescribed species! This is the second location I’ve found it in, and the first time at our place. (Edit: I'm not the only observer in Louisiana; I just figured out how to search iNaturalist by observation fields)
It's Fall Gall Week!
Get out there and look for weird bumps or growths on plants, take some pics, and upload to iNaturalist. Oak trees are always good hosts, and asters seem to be having a big gall year, at least where I live.
There is an iNaturalist project you can join here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-september-2024
You can tag me (@daniel_observer) to help with IDs, or use gallformers.org to find out more info!
Welcome to our 6th Gall Week event! Please add any new gall observations taken between September 7-15 to this project manually. Galls are structures induced by arthropods, fungi, and sometimes bacteria on plants. Please do not document here leaf miners or other evidence of feeding, unless they are gall-related. To participate, please join the project, document new observations between 9/7-15, and upload them manually to the project. Uploading observations can continue after the event ends as long as they were documented during that week. Don't forget to add information about the host plant - as a note, or even better, in the fields: Host and Host plant ID field. You can also link to the host plant observation, especially if you aren't sure what it was. Please do share your observations even if you are new to iNaturalist, and not sure yet how to use some of these features. If you're new to galling, you can check what are the best host plants in your area. You can use gall or insect b...
Colin Purrington
Daniel 🐅🏔
Steven D. Brewer 🏳️⚧️