Rosa Wild and Spiky

Today we went up onto Dartford Heath for our picnic lunch. The 314 acre Heath has played an important role in Dartford life throughout history with records back to 1660 relating to its civic importance and, as an area of outstanding natural beauty, was the original location for the Dartford Warbler.

After lunch I took a quick walk round the heath and came across this wild rose with a spiky hip. Apparently it is a Rose bedeguar gall, Robin's pincushion gall, or Moss gall which develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal buds mostly on Field Rose (Rosa arvensis) or Dog rose (Rosa canina): I think this is the latter. It is caused by the parthenogenetic hymenopteran gall wasp (Diplolepis rosae)