#Nature on the headlines ##What is Gall# ? I heard about it for the first time, and we local people call it "Elm Cloth Bag"
Mention of elm trees, not strange, only know that elm trees have two treasures, elm money and elm leaves, in the era of material scarcity, elm money and elm leaves have become the darlings of the dinner table in the season.
When I first saw the elm cloth bag, the green elm leaves, dotted with small red cloth bags, looked beautiful, and when I didn't know what the gall was, I was wondering, is the elm money the flower of the elm tree or the red cloth bag on the elm tree is its flower? Later, I learned about the small cloth bag, whose scientific name was worm gall, and learned about the evolution of worm gall, and what was inside the worm gall, and no longer thought that it was the flower of the elm tree.
When I first heard about the gall, I couldn't help but think of people, when I was a child, I saw someone in the village with a big pimple on the neck, the family said, that is called big neck disease, some people say, that it is called "gall", and later learned that the so-called gall, in fact, is goiter, medically known as hyperthyroidism. Does that mean that elms, like people, have become sick and become galls?
After returning to check the information, all the doubts and confusion were solved, the data showed that the small bag growing on the elm tree was called "gall", which contained the larvae of the autumn four-veined cotton aphid.
Galls are malformed tumors formed by the rapid division and abnormal differentiation of cells after the elm tree is stimulated by the feeding or spawning of insects and other organisms, and they are the "houses" of parasitic life. The gall is initially green, similar to the leaves, so it is not easy to see, and then it becomes pink, and people notice that if the "gall" is torn open, many small autumn four-veined cotton aphid larvae will be seen inside. This aphid can stimulate the growth of elm leaf deformities, forming leaf blisters known as "galls".
I really learned it, benefited a lot, and at the same time sighed, it seems that under its seemingly beautiful appearance, there are hidden secrets that are not known.
Knowing the formation process of gall, do you still find it beautiful?
At first sight, I feel beautiful, and I know each other and hate it late.