Robin's Pincushion

This a gall that is produced on wild roses by a tiny little 4mm wasp, Diplolepis rosae. They are pretty and are most often known by the quaint common name of Robin's Pincushions or Bedeguar Galls.

Robin refers, not to the bird but, to the woodland sprite of English folklore, Robin Goodfellow, otherwise known as Will o' the wisp and Puck.

They are deformations of the leaf buds caused when the female lays as many as 60 eggs on the bud and they hatch into larvae that feed on the swelling plant tissue, overwintering in them and emerging as adults in the spring.

Pincushions can be as large as a tennis ball but strangely the fewer the larvae the bigger the gall. Another strange fact is that less than one percent of the hatching wasps are males They seem to infest weaker plants but do little or no damage themselves. The filaments start off green but at this time of year are crimson red and very attractive.

Now the fun bit. In herbal medicine they were used, dried and powdered as a cure for colic, a diuretic, as a cure for toothache and for whooping cough. Men mixed the burnt gall ashes with honey and rubbed the mixture into their heads to prevent baldness. It was also used as hops are, placed under a pillow to induce sleep giving it another common name, Sleep apple.


I'm at home tonight and will not need one to induce a much needed nights rest!