Flame Azalea Gall... Ghost Ears... Exbasidium vaccinii

Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, I have often observed wasp galls on our oak trees in the north east, the leaf or stem would be injected by the wasp, causing a mutation in the DNA structure of the plant cellular growth. Laying an egg into the newly injected host the gall developing around the wasp egg will provide shelter and food for the developing larva.
Other galls are created by bacteria and fungi, like Ghost Ears, Exbasidium vaccinii, which was a very common growth on the native Appalachian plant Flame Azalea. (Rhododendron calendulaceum )
Plant galls are often highly organized structures and because of this the cause of the gall can often be determined without the actual agent being identified. This applies particularly to some insect and mite plant galls.


The green, round, and spongy gall-like growths are often observed on the twigs of flame azalea. These are the result of a fungus that attacks the leaf buds. Attaching to the cuticle
point of the newly forming leaves. As the gall matures it turns white and releases the spores for propagation. I marveled at the design and fleshiness of the structure, and
how tasty it looked to me.

It has been reported that the Native Peoples would eat them, I observed sign that the black bears ate them. I remember reading a report from the Rhododendron society,
And a publication from Virginia Tech. that in 1948 local children would go out to
The forest and harvest them, calling them…. Honeysuckles.

I was so tempted to eat one while I was out hiking the Appalachian Trail, a though I passed, not wanting to perhaps poison myself so far from medical help.
Now that I’m pasts the region where the Flame Azaleas reside, it will be sometime
Before I get a chance to eat one, but the next chance I get… I shall indulge in its
fleshy sweetness…..