Robin’s Pincushion

This is a gall which is found mostly on field rose and dog rose shrubs.

It is caused by a gall wasp called Diplolepsis rosae. The female wasp lays
up to 60 eggs in a leaf bud. The grubs develop within the gall and the wasps emerge in the Spring.
The rose grows the splky cushion which becomes redder as Autumn approaches.

The wasp is parthenogenetic with fewer than one percent being males.

The Robin in its name is not the bird but refers tothe woodland sprite of English folklore, Robin Goodfellow.