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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