Dichotomous table for gallers on Gagea
by Hans Roskam
1a Expanded galls on all green parts, according to the plant part affected => 3
1b Inconspicuous galls, consisting of a single swollen epidermis cell, on all green parts => 2
2a 1-celled warts, very small, punctiform, slightly protruding, yellowish; inside the spindle-shaped, swollen nutritive cell is a single 100 x 150 μm, or several (up to 10), globular or oval to flattened resting sporangia with colourless contents. G. pratensis: Synchytrium punctatum
2b Galls similar. The nutritive cell contains 1–3 resting spores, with red-orange or yellow contents. G. lutea, minima, pratensis: Synchytrium laetum
3a Bulging galls caused by smut fungi => 4
3b Leaves stunted; with irregular, pale, rugose-spongy swellings at base. Leaf blades twisted and curved. G. pratensis: Ditylenchus dipsaci
4a Rotund to oval smut pustules, about 2–10 mm long bulging, bladder-like, sometimes coalescing, which erupt rather late with longitudinal slits and release a blackish-olive-brown spore mass. Spores single. Gagea spp.: Vankya ornithogali
4b Similar but predominantly isolated, often extensive smut bulges on leaves and scapes; spores single or clustered in balls of 2–3 (5), enveloped by sterile auxiliary cells. G. pauciflora: Urocystis ornithogali