I do so love a good gall. Not sure why, maybe it is the way that they catch your attention as just being wrong and not how things are supposed to look. The deciduous forests in this part of Germany seem to have more than their fair share and that is just OK with me. The first one is likely fungal or viral and quite a beut'. It's the only one I've seen on Beech. The second one on rose, well I don't know what the hell that is, but I suspect it is the result of alien visitors. The rest are insect galls. Mama sticks her ovapositor into the leaf, deposits a single egg and the rest is all chemistry. Usually the larvae makes or modifies plant hormones and gets the unsuspecting plant to make it a pretty little home for the growing baby. I just love it when one organism tweaks another's biochemistry to its own advantage. As long as it isn't a parasite in me that is!
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