gallers on Sanguisorba

1a Malformations on leaves, sometimes extending onto the stems => 2

1b Shoot axis or petiole ± buckled or swollen spindle-shaped, sometimes conspicuously curved; often with several flat, oval, rimmed depressions, containing inducer. S. minor: Planchonia arabidis

2a Malformations without conspicuous pubescence => 3

2b Above-ground parts variously disfigured, on most expanded areas with abnormal, dense, whitish, hair felts. Hairs long, twisted. S. minor & subsp. balearica, officinalis, verrucosa: Aceria sanguisorbae

3a Leaf fold, roll or curl caused by animals => 6

3b Small, wart-like or expanded bulging galls caused by fungi => 4

4a Galls bulging, several mm long. Spores develop on gall surface => 5

4b Galls wart-shaped, many-celled, less than 1 mm across, yellow; with many on leaf underside, on leaf midrib, -stalk or young stems; sometimes coalescing into crusts or ridges and causing bends. S. minor, officinalis: Synchytrium aureum

5a Leaf veins, -midrib or stalk, sometimes also young stems, with slightly bulging, sometimes distinctly bent swellings of different length; leaf blades with rotund red-brown pads on upperside, mainly protruding on underside. Galls often brick-red, soon covered with orange spores. Teliospores (2) 4 (5)-celled. S. minor & subsp. balearica, officinalis, rupicola, verrucosa: Phragmidium sanguisorbae

5b Expanded, often ± curved bulges on leaf veins, -spindles, -stalks, also on stems; leaf blade with rotund pads, mainly on underside. Gall soon covered with brick-red spores; telia develop on both sides in arched carbon-black pads, sometimes coalescing with caeoma-sori. Teliospores 4‒22-celled. S. officinalis, verrucosa: Xenodochus carbonarius

5c Malformation of leaf. S. alpina, canadensis, minor & subsp. balearica, officinalis, verrucosa: Podosphaera ferruginea

5c Leaves curled and reddened. S. minor, officinalis: Peronospora sanguisorbae

6a Leaflets curled and ± rolled downwards => 7

6b Halves of leaflet folded upwards, pod-like; especially slightly thickened at veins; outside often ± grey-green, inside ± reddened. Often all leaflets of a leaf are galled. Larvae very many, orange-red. S. officinalis, much rarer on S. minor, officinalis: Dasineura sanguisorbae

7a Malformations caused by spittlebugs or sawfly larvae => 8

7b Leaf blades contracted, curled. S. minor: Unidentified aphid

8a Midrib and leaflet stalks of the still young often pale green leaves slightly thickened and ± stunted, bunched together; axis curled variously up to almost spirally. Leaf blades of leaflet ± folded upwards, often deflected in apical part. S. minor, officinalis: Claremontia puncticeps

8b Especially apical part of leaf midrib distinctly shortened and curved downwards. Leaflets ± bunched together, crumpled, partially dark-green. Froth-covered nymph on underside. S. minor, officinalis: Philaenus spumarius