Sunday, July 08, 2007

Trying to figure out what this plant is. . .SOLVED!

I saw this plant/flower the other day in a vacant lot and after taking a few photos, i decided to break off one and take it home. Stopped in a fast food place and got some wet towels to put around the stem since I wasn't going directly home. I have asked internet friends what it might be but so far no one has an answer for me.






Another teacher from TNET solved the mystery for me. She not only found photos of it that matched mine but gave a great description from the site she found too:


I found out what it is, Paulie!
Posted by slowpoke on 7/09/07

• These odd fuzzy growths (called Robin’s Pincushion in
England) on rose are caused by a cynpid wasp (Diplolepis
sp.). The gall is a plant growth and houses the larvae of the
wasp. Best control is to prune out and destroy growths before
the wasp emerge. Many times the galls are green but in this
specimen they have reddish color.
Also called bedeguar galls. No wonder it stumped us! So
interesting.
• It was fun to solve the mystery!
• (In case you wondered how I found it, I did a google image
search on "fuzzy rose", and there was a pic!)*

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How strange! The leaves and thorny stem look like a rose, but the flower certainly doesn't. I hope you figure it out!

Jenny McB said...

Kind of like a thistle, I will look in my gardening books tomorrow.

Paulie said...

Thanks, jenny mcb -- I appreciate any help. I fell in love with it when I saw it.

Paulie said...

I got the answer! See bottom of blog.

Jenny McB said...

YOu know, it did look fake...kind of like that poofy yarn they sell for scarves.

As you can tell, LOL< I never did find it in my gardening books.