Anyone know what this is?

[UrbanTC]

Found this in the canopy on the underside of the red oak leaves. The texture is like cotton, at the base of the cottony stuff are red seeds of some sort. I have no clue....

 

[UrbanTC]

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[UrbanTC]

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[UrbanTC]

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[UrbanTC]

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[UrbanTC]

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[trees4ever]

UrbanTC,

Looks like a gall.

Oaks have many unique galls usually made by Cynipid gall wasps.
There are galls made by mites and midges as well.

Some galls are very woolly and have seed-like structures in them, like in your photo, where the wasp is developing.

The wool sower gall is very much like that, however, it is usually found in white oaks, but perhaps there is a similar species of wasp specific to red oaks.

There is a hedgehog gall that is made right on the leaf's main vein,like in your photo, and has orangish 'hairs' although generally more contained.

Maybe an entomologist can be more specific on the gall/wasp ID, but galls are usually not considered harmful to trees.



-Diane

 

[tomthetreeman]

Jeremy, you shouldn't have touched them. At this point you should try not to fall asleep tonight, and keep checking your hands throughout the night. Wash with alcohol and holy water.

Just kidding, I think Diane is right, they are some crazy insect gall!

-Tom

 

[nuthin_special]

Either squirrell nuts or insect galls for sure.

The root flare on that tree looks suspect however.

 

[UrbanTC]

Thanks for the help. Hey nuthin special, the red oak is to the left of the tree in the picture. The one in the picture is a black walnut. I just used that location for better pictures.

 

[guymayor]

awesome use of images!

agreee re gall harmless

but putting soil and mulch on trunk tissue is not

 

[KTSmith]

Wooly oak leaf gall caused by the wasp Callirhytis lanata, same genus as the wool-sower gall and also in the Cynipidae, as trees4ever knew. Not the same genus as the Cynip that causes spotted oak apple gall.
There are a bunch of these out there, not usually a problem. Nice pictures like these are sometimes make it easy! Then again, I don't know that many bugs!