A much-needed new study on plant galls growths on plants formed
of plant tissue that are caused by other organisms.
Most naturalists have come across oak apples, robin s
pincushions, marble galls and witches brooms, a few of the more
familiar examples of the strange growths that are plant galls. They
are beautiful, often bizarre and colourful, and amazingly diverse
in structure and in the organisms which cause them. They have been
known since ancient times and have attracted superstitions and folk
customs. Both the ancient Greeks and the Chinese used them in
herbal medicine, and until well into the nineteenth century, they
had a variety of commercial uses: important for dyeing cloth,
tanning leather and for making ink.
Knowledge of gall types increased during the late nineteenth
century and throughout the twentieth century as more species were
described and their structure became more clearly understood, and
yet even today, little is known about the mechanisms that cause
gall formation as well as the life cycles of the organisms that
initiate gall growth. Since most galls do not cause any economic
damage to crop plants, research funding has traditionally been
sparse in this area. However, the insect cycles and gall structures
are amazing examples of the complexity of nature.
Margaret Redfern explores these fascinating complexities in this
latest New Naturalist volume, providing much-needed insight into
the variety of galls of different types caused by a wide range of
organisms including fungi, insects and mites. She discusses the
ecology of galls more generally and focuses on communities of
organisms within galls, the evolution and distribution of galls, as
well as human and historical perspectives."
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