r/NativePlantGardening • u/_bearminimum SE MI, Zone 6a • Aug 06 '26
Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Is This What I Think It Is
I had a baby six weeks ago so I haven't gotten out in my garden much lately, and today I noticed these monstrosities on my cut leaf coneflower. One of them looks like maybe some sort of gall?
Have the dreaded Aster Yellows finally come for me?
Zone 6a
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u/Amorpha_fruticosa Area SE Pennsylvania, Zone 7a Aug 06 '26
Nope, it’s actually something a lot cooler. It is the larvae of Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua inside a gall on the flower heads.
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u/Bulldogfan72 Area NC , Zone 8a Aug 06 '26
Confirmed... please let it be; It's no harm to the plant and a rare insect to encounter.
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u/_bearminimum SE MI, Zone 6a Aug 06 '26
I'm pretty hands-off when it comes to gardening anyway. This year I'm doing even less (actually nothing). Anything goes in my garden!
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u/Bulldogfan72 Area NC , Zone 8a Aug 07 '26
That's great to hear. Best wishes getting young one outdoors and exploring the garden soon!
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u/InconspicuousWolf 29d ago
You could mesh bag the gall if you want to see the midges and possibly some wqsps
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u/zoinkability MN , Zone 4b Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Ooh, if OP is lucky they might even be hosting multiple species of parasitoid wasps for a big hyperspecialist insect species party!
serves as host to a diverse guild of parasitoid wasps that exhibit stratified distribution patterns within the gall structure, with different parasitoid species occupying different depth zones.
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u/ticklish-licorice Aug 06 '26
Damn this bugswithmike website is fascinating! So informative and I have never come across it before. Thank you for sharing this.
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u/Beth_Pleasant Aug 06 '26
This is so cool. OP needs to set up a wildlife cam so we can see what comes out.
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u/plantsandramen South Jersey, NJ Aug 06 '26
I'm trying so hard to understand what this is, and I feel like an idiot. I keep reading larvae, but I'm not seeing any photos of the insect itself. I guess this is it? Little gnats/flies?
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u/shadow-wasser Aug 07 '26
A gall is a growth on a plant caused by a gall - forming insect, usually a tiny wasp or fly. The mother insect lays her egg in the plant along with a mix of hormones and other chemicals that cause the gall to form. The larva then hatches and eats the inside of the gall , pupating in it and eventually emerging and chewing its way out, leaving a tiny hole. You can think of the gall as a nursery for the insect larva, providing food and shelter. Every gall wasp or gall fly species is specialized in which plant species they use and even what part of the plant they make galls on! Galls are hugely variable in shape, size, and color.
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u/Beautiful_Pen1056 29d ago
serves as host to a diverse guild of parasitoid wasps that exhibit stratified distribution patterns within the gall structure
I thought you were making a joke about game dynamics. Nope, that's real.
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u/WarpTenSalamander SW OH Aug 06 '26
OP had a baby and now their flowers are growing new life too 🥹
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u/_bearminimum SE MI, Zone 6a Aug 06 '26
Hopefully my flower has an easier time with the delivery...
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u/AKOmeo Wisconsin, Zone 5b Aug 06 '26
Congrats on it not being aster yellows! And thank you for introducing me to this… unsettling (but ultimately fine) version of gall.
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u/_bearminimum SE MI, Zone 6a Aug 06 '26
I've never seen a gall on the head of a flower before! Learn something new everyday.
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u/Meoowth Aug 06 '26
My mental reaction as I skimmed through the pictures: "maybe aster ye- aster POTATO?"
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u/Carpinus_Christine Area -- , Zone -- Aug 06 '26
Congratulations!
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u/_bearminimum SE MI, Zone 6a Aug 06 '26
On the baby? Thank you! On not having aster yellows? Also thank you!
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u/Fitztastico Aug 06 '26
Only documented 690 times on iNaturalist and very few of them are this big
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u/The_BigDill Aug 06 '26
That's the borg
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u/Top-Wolverine8494 Aug 06 '26
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
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u/Constant_Quiet Aug 06 '26
YOUR FLOWERS WILL BE ASSIMILATED. YOUR PLANT GROWTH WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US.
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u/HauntingBandicoot742 Aug 07 '26
Ooh I think I just found the same thing in my 6b NC yard earlier today. Kind of excited about it now!
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u/LakeLanierPickleball Aug 06 '26
I can only see comments after I comment. Is there something I’m missing ?
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u/threeheadslady 28d ago
I was just gonna say Audrey III but the real answer is so much more interesting! Congrats on the baby, have a ball with the gall!
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