Does anyone know what these are?

[lisablueeyes]

Hi,

I have a large tree in my garden, I'm not sure what it is but i noticed that some of the leaves had these red protruding things, they seem to gather the leaf up as they grow.

[url=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/archive/showphoto.php?photo=89999][/url

Can anyone tell me what they are please?

Thanks in advance, Lisa

[KeenTeen17]

Originally Posted by lisablueeyes

Hi,

I have a large tree in my garden, I'm not sure what it is but i noticed that some of the leaves had these red protruding things, they seem to gather the leaf up as they grow.

[url=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/archive/showphoto.php?photo=89999][/url

Can anyone tell me what they are please?

Thanks in advance, Lisa

I'm not sure but they could be a gall of some kind. The insects lay their eggs in the leaf and these are the young larva growing in the leaf

[Hedge Witch]

This might be a better view of your photo, Lisa. Hope this helps with the identification. To me they look like gall mites:

Symptoms
Little, raised red pimple bumps can be seen on the surface of the leaves.

Cause
Microscopic sap-sucking mites. They secrete chemicals back into the plant which cause the galls. There are many different mites which are specific to particular plants, such as Acer, lime and broom mites.

Harm
None, except looking unsightly.

Treatment
None. You can pick off infected leaves

[The Woodman]

I think you're both right KT and HW. These are Nail Galls, probably caused by a mite of the Eriophyes (or similar) family. When the mite feeds on the leaf, it injects chemicals into the leaf causing the cell structure to mutate and form these little harmless growths. (I've just realised that you've quoted that already!)

[lisablueeyes]

Thanks Hedge Witch for sorting out the photo for me im not too sure what happened there...

Thanks everyone for the id of these, i have a lot of these on the tree, is this ok?

[Hobjob]

This is
Eriophyes tiliae
found on Broad leaf lime (Tilia platyphyllos)
Colour can vary from pale to green to red.

Small Leaved Lime (T. Cordata has a similar gall, Aceria lateannulatus, which is shorter, 5mm, and rounded apex).

They won't harm your tree, just some of this years leaves.
Its quite common across Europe, though April is early(ish) for it.
I've only seen it on mature Limes though.

[poschiavanus]

I don't think you can rely on Lime species to ID these nail galls. According to the FSC key they both occur on the hybrid Common Lime, which is by far and away the most likely source of the leaf in a garden. But I would think the Eriophyes tiliae is the likeliest candidate: its pretty common on street limes.

There are a couple of other mite galls which can be seen now on limes, but they're rather less obvious. One forms little hardened bumps in the axils of the leaf veins (Eriophyes exilis), and the other produces an erineum (hairy patch) on the underside of the leaf, usually noticed because the leaf is raised in pale bumps (Eriophyes leiosoma).