Dichotomous table for gallers on Myosoton
(incl. Malachium)
by Hans Roskam
1a On flowers => 8
1b On vegetative plant parts => 2
2a On shoot tips or on many terminal leaves => 5
2b Galls on leaf blade or malformation of a few leaves at any point of insertion => 3
3a Wart- or spindle-shaped galls on leaf blades, occasionally on stems => 4
3b Usually several ± nest-like clustered, deflected, curled, locally deep green leaves on one-sided stunted axial parts. Philaenus spumarius
4a Yellowish, multi-cellular warts, less than 1 mm long, occasionally coalescing into crusts or ridges. Also on lower stem parts. Synchytrium aureum
4b Leaf blades with sori up to about 5 mm long, rotund, sometimes slightly arched on underside on usually yellow-green spots or spindle-shaped weak bulges on leaf veins, -stalks and stems; eventually covered by dark-brown sori. Puccinia arenariae
5a Malformations of shoot tips => 7
5b Malformation of complete shoots, or of many leaves on shoot tips => 6
6a Diseased complete shoots develop ± rigidly erect, internodes elongated; the bleached leaves ± stunted and bearing loose yellow sori on underside.
Melampsorella caryophyllacearum
6b Leaves on apically progressively shortened stems ± twisted and curled, the halves bent upwards. Brachycolus stellariae
7a One-, occasionally also two outer leaf pairs inserted on terminal or lateral shoots stunted, pale, basally thickened, converging, transformed into an erect, ± conical gall. Containing several pale- to lemon-yellow larvae. cf. Macrolabis stellariae
= Also a gall associated with disfigured flowers might be caused by this midge
7b Strongly clustered, tuft-like accumulation of stunted, upwardly rolled and bulging leaves. Brachycolus stellariae
8a Flowers greened or leafy. Cause unknown – ? gall mite
8b Anthers in hardly disfigured flowers temporarily swollen; later on filled with dark-violet spores. Microbotryum stellariae