Dichotomous table for gallers on Delphinium
(incl. Consolida)
by Hans Roskam
1a On plant parts above ground => 2
1b Roots with nodular swellings. D. elatum: Meloidogyne hapla
1c Leafy galls, caused on the root collar by Rhodococcus fascians
2a Closed stem galls, contain insect larva => 3
2b Leaves or petioles with rotund to oval, yellowish, aecia bearing bulges. Consolida ajacis, hispanica, regalis; Delphinium spp.: Puccinia actaeae-elymi
2c In similar malformations on Consolida ajacis, regalis; Delphinium cashmerianum, elatum, exaltatum develop aecia of a less cecidogenic rust fungus alternating on Elymus caninus: Puccinia actaeae-agropyri
3a Small spindle-shaped swelling on stem, 5–10 mm long and 2–4 mm in cross section, red or brown, close to an insertion of leaf, with large cavity. Consolida hispanica, regalis; Delphinium longipes: Thamnurgus delphinii
3b Stem just below the still undeveloped inflorescence ± spindle-shaped, or irregularly barrel-shaped, swollen over a length of 20–35 mm. The increasingly developed, also outside the gall irregularly eaten, pith containing a single or several larvae. Delphinium elatum, ? oxysepalum: Ranunculiphilus pseudinclemens