#knopper

July 25th - These oak knopper galls actually took me by surprise a couple of days ago, but the photos I took weren’t great, so I revisited the saplings they’re growing on today.

I spotted them on a tree near Victoria Park in Darlaston and I don’t think there’s a single normally formed acorn on that tree at all, and yet several adjacent ones have no knoppers at all.

These mutations of normal acorns are of course caused by a tiny wasp that lays eggs in the acorn buds earlier in the year. A secretion the eggs are coated in causes the acorn bud to mutate and grow in a distorted form, forming a gall, with the wasp egg at the centre. 

The larva hatches, and eats it’s way out of the gall, which provides it enough nourishment to grow to maturity.

Insect galls like this don’t hurt the tree, but of course, do affect it’s fecundity.

September 13th - Also falling from trees now and altogether less of a hazard are the knopper galls, the genetically mutated acorn-cum-insect-cocoons that are bastardised from the normal oak fruit by the knopper wasp.

These seemingly dead, spent galls will most likely have larva inside them and they will overwinter in the fallen galls before boring their way out in spring - although those dropping in vulnerable positions like these on the footpath will be lost under feet, cycle tyres and to the wind and elements.

It’s not until you think about it you realise what a high rate of attrition there is with such things - just how many larva are lost and how this must affect the fecundity of the knopper wasp as a species.

September 11th - I had promised no more wasp galls. Sorry, just one more I missed. 

I’ve been looking at this type of gall for ages and not realised what they are - a small, coffee-bean sized growth, caused by genetic mutation provoked by an injected tiny wasp’s egg. These small, rough galls are tiny compared to the more familiar marble oak galls which are smoother  and rounder.

They function in the same way though, as a growth pod and foot source for the wasp larva that hatches within, and when ready, the wasp will eat it’s way out to freedom.

August 10th - Oak galls continue to fascinate, and on this tree in Victoria Park, Darlaston, there’s quite a display of knopper galls, the first I’ve seen this year.

Like other oak parasites, the knopper wasp lays eggs in it’s host, secreted in a chemical that corrupts the cellular DNA of the host plant matter causing the gall too grow. In this case, the target is the acorn itself, and on this tree, one can see some acorns blighted by two such galls.

As with others, the egg hatches and ithe wasp larva eats the gall and grows safe in it’s corrupted acorn, before boring it’s way out when mature.

Also on this tree, the more conventional wasp gall - the common ‘oak apple’ of folklore, a spherical gall grown the same way.

Found this at our local grocery store—it comes in a 4-pack. I’ve had it for a bit, so I don’t remember how much they were (I remember they weren’t much).

It looks like they’re wafer with hazelnut chocolate filling—and that’s enough chocolate for this blog! (Even if I’m not a fan of hazelnut chocolate)

They come square, but I chopped it diagonal to take an artsy picture ;)

When you first open the package you can smell the wafer right away—reminds me of Kit Kat’s or Little Debby peanut butter wafer things

It also looks like there’s chocolate on the bottom—which is a good idea! (Since you’ll taste the chocolate first)

Biting into it is really dry at first. You can feel yourself crunching through each layer. And as you chew it together you can taste it all mix together and any dryness goes away.

Very smooth, subtle flavor here. If I were to compare it to a Kit Kat, I’d say the Kit Kat has twice the flavor. It’s tasty and I would get again if I was craving a light wafer snack :)

#365daysofbiking From little acorns:

July 15th - More galls: I mentioned knopper galls recently and pointed out these wasp galls deform acorn buds to form a home for the wasp larva within. I found an illustration of this in Victoria Park Darlaston.

This is a knapper gall starting to form. The acorn cap is normal, but where the smooth, rounded nascent acorn should be, there is a knobbly, textured growth which will expand to form the gall.

The DNA of the acorn has literally been corrupted or reformed to grow a home for the wasp egg within by a chemical the egg was coated with.

How does such a mechanism evolve? It’s truly wonderful.