Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter

from the March 31, 2008 Newsletter written in the community of 28 de Junio, in the Central Valley 8 kms west of Pujiltic, elev. ~700m (2300ft), ~N16.331°, ~W92.472°; southeastern Chiapas state, MÉXICO
WOOL-GATHERER GALL AS MEDICINE

WOOL-GATHERER GALL

Above you can see a fuzzy gall on an oak stem near the top of Big-Cross Hill. This gall is very similar to one often seen on oak stems during the spring in eastern North American forests. North America's gall is known as the Wool-sower Gall and is produced by a wasp of the family Cynipidae, so I'm guessing that the same is true of our gall.

At www.backyardnature.net/pix/gallwool.jpg you can see a Wool-sower Gall I photographed in northern Mississippi. More information on galls in general is at www.backyardnature.net/galls.htm.

Andrés told us that people here seek out these galls when they have a baby whose tongue and lips are covered with blisters. The gall is smeared with sugar and then daubed over the baby's blistered mouthparts.