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Several leaves of this young acacia shrub had circular to oval patches of thickened, firm, raised growths with brown encrustation on their pale convex surfaces (pics 1 to 3). The growths were concave on the underside with a outer circle of similar brown crust (pic 4). These patches did not occur in any particular part of the leaf - some involved the mid vein and others anywhere on the leaf lamina. A dissection of one of these structures revealed just thick tough plant tissue.
Spotted on young Mountain Hickory Wattle ( Acacia obliquinervia) shrubs on Mt Donna Buang (1250 masl)
Unsure about architect of this kind of gall. Would greatly appreciate any help. I will do further investigation as well.
My thanks to Vinny for confirming that the host plant was the Mountain Hickory Wattle. This will hopefully help with identifying the gall/ leaf pathology.
Spotted on Feb 9, 2015
Submitted on Feb 11, 2015
2 Comments
Thanks so much for the confirmation Vinny. I have never seen this species before. It had a lot of insect life around it - would like to see it in bloom. Now, I'll have to work on the gall.
Help not required ;) Mountain Hickory wattle looks a solid fit