Monday 4 April 2011

A old mistake

Browsing through Edward Connold's 1901 book British vegetable galls, I came across this picture.

Connolds torminalis

Clearly the leaves of a wild service tree (Sorbus torminalis) galled by the mite Eriophyes torminalis.  However, the caption says "Leaves of Viburnum Opulus [guelder rose] GALLED BY Eriophyes Viburni" which decidedly is not correct.

Connold lived in St Leonards-on-Sea, only a few miles from my home, and was a great expert on plant galls.  In a way his error shows how easy it is to overlook wild service trees, which still grow in St Leonards, or to mistake them for something else.

No comments:

Post a Comment