Fuzzy

This is a wild rose in a nearby hedge, but when I pruned our own rose yesterday, I also found some of these bedeguar galls or moss galls on the stems. 

It’s the larva of a tiny gall wasp that causes these growths. By feeding from certain parts of the rose, it stimulates the plant’s cells, and they are growing into a structure with hollow cells (for the larvae) on the inside, and reddish-green fuzz on the outside. Something that’s unlike any other part of the plant. 

How that works exactly, and how insects once developed this ability - nobody knows. 

Little things like this can be fascinating, I think.