Yew-Bud Galls
The buds of the Yew (Taxus baccata) are liable to be injured by a Gall Midge, and also by a Gall Mite. The former (Cecidomyia Taxi) produces a cone-shaped Gall at the tips of the young twigs, composed of crowded, overlapping leaves, which remain short, but become broader than the healthy leaves; they are like the latter in colour. The larvae live between the altered leaves. The Galls are usually of the size figured. They are generally solitary; but two or three may be present at the tip of a twig. The simplest method for preventing harm to the trees from this cause is to pick off the young Galls, as this destroys the larvae.
The Gall Mite (Phytoptus Taxi) is a much more dangerous foe. It attacks the leaf-buds, and also the male and female flowers, all of which enlarge, and may reach 1/5in. in diameter, becoming, at the same time, yellow or red. The galled organs are fleshy, and are covered with small, translucent warts. Between them live multitudes of the minute Gall Mites. The Galls remain on the branches all winter, serving for the protection of the Mites. These crawl out the following spring, and produce new Galls in the younger buds. Mr. Andrew Murray was the first to describe these Galls, from examples found by Professor Thistleton Dyer, near London, in 1875. Mr. Murray describes the branches as looking as if frost-bitten. The most effectual--indeed, the only reliable--remedy is to remove the galled branches and burn them, while the Mites are still in the Galls.
