Had vaguely heard about it, but never really seen an oak apple gall. Yesterday, rambling in the woods of Black Star Canyon, my attention was inevitably attracted towards these luscious fruit-shaped spherical masses adhering to branches of scrub oaks. Little research into it identity revealed that its formed by larva of gall wasp. The larva hatched out of egg laid on a leaf bud injects a chemical to develop the tumorous bulge. The larva resides inside the gall and feeds on the tissue. I saw yellowish-red and brown galls. Check the pictures from my lens...
Don't they look inviting? But beware, a larva lodges inside.
The plant galls are similar to human granuloma....a battle field of host and the pathogens...so full of secondary metabolites....that's why, the galls are used as medicines in certain cultures....
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