Find Shingle Oak by Gall

Hiking in the woods I was taking a 250 degree line from a well know (to me) Basswood clump. I was not finding much and sat down at the top of a gentle ridge. I noticed to my right a Shingle oak with the gouty oak gall problem. These galls can build up over time leading to branch die back and tree decline.

Galls are formed by different insects wasps being one of the. Of the 800 wasps that form galls on trees 731 attack oaks.




With these photos taken I then went over to double check if in fact this tree was a Shingle oak. The only leaves on the ground were Shingle oak. They keep their leaves on all winter so they have not been on the ground for long.