![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XlgJy4xvkvqC0cQXyJTHfwKGpYBTxwY4mQH2nlHfmJUGV4djzd0xBwUbqNbPaM5GHri1M5IiGDB9AcubTdXiK4T3XqvrE10y1Ei32SByNsOmHH-ejmta2Q53_S20vjpbeyAgKYreWeCx/s400/CedarAppleRust2April2012.jpg)
No doubt you're asking yourself what the heck are these things? Worms? Orange ectoplasm? Tentacled blobs from Mars?
Actually this is a plant pathogen known as cedar-apple rust, Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae. The blobs are sometimes called cedar-apple galls. This pathogen alternates between junipers and apples, thus its name. Infected apple trees exhibit different symptoms, though. Infected apples merely have warty-looking lesions on the leaves and fruits instead of these shockingly orange, fleshy blobs throughout the canopy.
This particular cedar is simply festooned with the things.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHtdWcbW9sTT-sjGDWhhUmeLl66PI8yLGVjnsfUdaa-PnLE0plc68A6rte-l6FT-hWMH4m_vU_x9ZcCY4IpdJB7wwxOw5gDMb_-NLRWvdqMZ9NR9tv14LuWtLgs3WsMgZOFq6Hc4EuJWn/s400/CedarAppleRust3April2012.jpg)
Sometimes the galls look like orange snot on the branches. The gelatinous mess you see in these pictures sheds spores into the moist, humid air during rainfall. No doubt I was being bombarded by enormous numbers of infective spores while taking these pictures. Good thing I'm not an apple tree.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEIMYfHZfjhXldi3otlbN3ho9s_YvYprcH7xVCtJE-muk9CWtfn864CchFaS0NhUv8iixEHfIO_fZg4qWvbmck50_6c80KthroJYhS7ePuxOpcpYPakfhonlfhEo264YGTAMuNJno1DWEg/s400/CedarAppleRust5April2012.jpg)
In a way, they are a little festive, no?
No comments:
Post a Comment