Today’s guest post was written by Ed Ammons.
While in search for poison ivy I came across two of these fuzzy blooms. They are attached to a twig of some kind of oak down near the ground.
This one might appear to be attached to the briar but in actuality is growing on the little oak limb entering the picture from the left.
I did find the poison ivy I was looking for and plenty of it.
It looks as though there is a vine growing under the detritus on the ground. The “leaves of three” are the evil stuff. The 5 leaved plant with sawtoothed edges is the first growth of what I call Virginia Creeper.
Here we go! A nice little place to throw down a blanket, in the dappled shade and sunlight, and have a picnic. Maybe a little nap afterward. Come on over!
—Ed Ammons
I’m always up for a picnic in the woods and it looks like Ed has a dandy spot for one. If you know what the blooms are please leave a comment for Ed.
Last night’s video: The Best Thing I’ve Made In Ages.
Tipper
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I learned something new today – thanks everyone!
I don’t believe I have ever seen a wood sower gall. I will have to pay more attention. Personal experience of poison ivy or oak, my mama would bathe us in dilute clorox after playing out in the woods and potential exposure. We sure have alot of it. Memories way back of doing ER rotation, I saw some hideous cases of folks who had unknowingly gotten into the awful stuff. Stokogard is a barrier product that is actually worth checking into when you can find it. I don’t see it quite as much as I did at one time. I have seen Stokoderm outdoor cream and think it is essentially the same product now. You put it on to any exposed areas before going outside. I used to suggest Stokogard to patients in the ER with poison ivy or oak regularly. If you are really allergic, it is worth asking your pharmacist to see if they can order it for you if the price is reasonable or if you don’t find it on the shelf. If the price has become too high, or you can’t find it and want to try a similar product, Ivy Block is available on Amazon or maybe your pharmacy. Note: this is not IvyX, which in my clinical experience did little to nothing to help with blocking exposure. Good luck, and stay away from the evil plant at all cost! It is miserable!
Wool Sower Galls are very unique. It’s been a while since I’ve seen any. My husband is so allergic to poison ivy. He had it so bad a couple of years ago the doctor told him he almost waited too late to get some help. Ed, it sure would be nice if your neighbor took care of his own poison ivy but very nice of you to do the job. The pictures are pretty but looking at the “leaves of three” are making me itch!!!
Good morning! Looks like everyone already knew the answer!
I love picnics! I think I would be just as afraid of sitting on a snake as I would be the poison ivy.
Oh the plight of poison ivy. I used to get it really bad, but not as bad now as an adult. My husband doesn’t get it at all so maybe he passed off some of his immunity to me, but I won’t be taking any chances.
Randy, and those who donated anonymously, thank you so much for your donation to B through GoFundMe!! They appreciate everything everyone is doing and I’ll pass it along that you are my ‘acorn’ friends!!
The address if you would like to send a card is as follows:
Blakely Robinson
c/o Alisha Robinson
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Hagerstown IN 47346
B is taking radiation treatments right now. She must complete 6 weeks and if able, there is a chance that Stanford can get her into a program. They have one spot. There is no cure (we’re still believing the Lord for a miracle) but if the program would work, it would give her more time. As it stands now, the doctors have stated 6-12 months. We believe no man has the answer for our time here and that is up to the good Lord. As long as there is breath in her lungs, I believe the Lord can provide a miracle. The bigger the mountain, the deeper the valley, the greater the miracle that can only point to Jesus!
Again, thank you all so much for your prayers and faith for B! God proves daily there are still wonderful people in the world! You are them!
Maybe some don’t know this, but if you are allergic to poison oak you don’t necessarily have to get it on you from the plant. You can get it in your eyes and throat from the smoke of a burning brush pile. I did his when I was a toddler too young to remember. I almost had to be put in a hospital.
I really enjoyed all of the commentary here this morning and have learned a lot. I seem to learn something every day from the posts and comments. I’m always telling my husband and/or daughter this or that about the blog posts. I will be keeping my eye out for wool sower galls (quite the interesting name choice!) in our woods.
on the poison ivy topic: Dawn detergent is great for breaking down the oils in poison ivy.
washing body, hair, & clothing with Dawn detergent after an explore in the woods or clearing a garden area is a good precaution. It does dry hair, skin, & scalp so follow up with good moisturizers.
So cool ! That is amazing!
I’ve never seen that pretty flower, and I’m not sure I want to if it’s associated with waspers in any way. Years ago, my best friend and neighbor decided we would clean an old fence line between our homes. Since neither of us had ever been allergic to poison vines, we did it without wearing any protective gear. She ended up in the hospital, had to have her rings cut off, her eyes were swollen shut, and she was completely unrecognizable as the doctors fought to keep her airway open. A lesson learned! Never assume that you are not allergic to the vines, as that can change in a heartbeat.
Such beauty in nature. It is so nice learning new things here on the Blind Pig And The Acorn. Thanks to all the Acorns. God bless all of you today tomorrow and always.
I have been fighting Virginia Creeper for 35 years. God willing, I will celebrate my 80th. birthday this year and am thinking I will gift myself with a truce – just keeping it confined to a flower bed with my weed eater. When I go home to Kentucky, the kudzu reminds me that Virginia Creeper is not so bad after all. As for the poison oak, God has gifted me with the ability to look at a mass of green vegetation and immediately spot the poison oak. Apparently this gift was not passed to my grandkids.
My hubby has seen these fuzzy things on oak trees before and had no idea what it was. We looked it up and found the same as everyone else, that it is a wool sower gall, and it is caused by a tiny wasp. It was surprising. I thought it was gonna be some kind of fungus. I have only had a couple tiny bumps of poison ivy on my fingers before—but my poor hubby gets it bad. Many years ago, he got poison ivy so bad he had to go get shots at the emergency room. It was all over his face and around his eyes. I don’t know if it was the cause, but he had to get glasses after that. He got it one time from handling timbers in the coal mines. The oil apparently survives long after the vines are cut away. Anyways—this was an interesting post, Ed. It got us all googling like crazy this morning.
Picking on my area weathermen, last night they were all forecasting near 100% chance of rain this morning starting around 5 o’clock this morning. I haven’t seen a drop of rain or any sign of a thunderstorm, when looking at the weather radar, I won’t be seeing any today. They did hit the nail on the head yesterday, I had about 1 inch of soaking in rain.
I think I may have seen the “flowers” before but never thought about what they might be. Thanks to Ammons this morning, I will soon be breaking out with poison oak or Ivey! I use to break out just looking at a picture of it. I’m not as bad now as I was when younger, but I don’t take chances with any of it. Something grows in places along on the banks of the creek on my property. I guess it may be poison sumac. I just know to stay out of it. I am allergic to any of it. As for cures, one of the best home cures I have every used is plain old Clorox, just rub it on it before you have clawed yourself raw, otherwise it will set you on fire. This is funny, but I hate it, my teenage nephew got a bad case of poison oak one time, he didn’t tell me he had been clawing himself raw, I told him about Clorox. He decided to add a good bit of it to his tub of bath water. Other members of his family had to chance him down because of him running around the house naked and screaming. I just called him a dumb donkey!
Ammons I answered your question from yesterday from last night, I am Jimmy Randall (Randy), my son is James. I just use an old email he once used for my email. Go back and read my explanation if you want too.
I have no idea.
well looks like the answer to the question has been found, but why was Ed hunting poison? didn’t much look like a place to have a picnic with all the poison, God bless Ed, God bless everybody here
Interesting, but why would he go looking for poison ivy?
I find the the poison ivy along an old fence line that divides my property from my neighbor to the west. I’ve taken the time every spring for close to fifty years to spray all the poison ivy (and poison oak) I find on my property. My neighbor does no such, so his poison ivy grows over onto my property. Every spring when the malicious stuff starts to grow I knock it down.
WOW: The first best treatment for every affliction is to eliminate the cause.
Fortunately I’m not much allergic to the poison vines but I still avoid and eradicate all I see around my property because my grandson, for sure is. The girls have never had to deal with it so I’m unsure of their situation with it. My poor grandson got into poison sumac when he was about 5 and “helping” his Mommer(me) pull weeds. My heart broke when the painful blisters appeared. I had to take him into the ER and meet his mom there to get diagnosed and treatment. I’ve waged war on all poisonous weeds for the next 19 years!! Didn’t get but a glance, late last night at what you all were up to yesterday. I’m in west central IL and we got hit by some big storms and 3″ of rain on ground that’s been in a drought for years. The part of my quarter mile long lane that the creek and tiles pass under was flooded at least 3 ft deep for over 12 hours. & when the water subsided a 5ft section of my lane was long down stream, leaving stranded on the other side. Knowing I needed bloodwork yesterday morning for my chemo treatment today, I asked a friend to pick me up (I had to walk down into the creek bed & up to the end of my lane) and take me for labs. I’d sent pictures and SOS to my rock guy who’d put in my new culvert 2 years ago. Thankfully with all of the help I’m getting ready for my chemo appointment and can drive myself over the newly laid rock. So grateful for the good people in my life!!! So please…no poison ivy on top of everything else haha!!! Also, finely listened to granny and pap’s love long. Soooo sweet!!!!!
Ok everybody says wool sower gall and I’m going to go along with that cause I got no idea, but I have seen these tiny puffballs of pink and white before. I hate poison ivy, oak, sumac and “may as well be poison” kudzu. In hell I’m sure everybody has poison ivy or the like cause it will drive you insane with itch! It’s most fitting for hell, doncha think??? When I get it I get steroid rage and I have to take half the dose of a normal person cause I’m quite sensitive to meds. I’d rather suck a rusty nail than deal with the poison… yikes. Stay safe out here… I knew a gal who relieved herself on a roadside in GA and ended up with cactus splinters where the sun don’t shine…it’s a jungle out there yall!!! Take care and beware!!!
Not trying to out do your tale of the Ga. gal, but I once worked with a man that had to answer nature’s call while out in the woods, without looking at what he had grabbed he wiped with poison oak. He said the doctor was laughing the whole time he was treating him.
What a response this morning! So many that zeroed in on what that was. I have seen that most all my life but did not know the name of the critter that caused it. And, had I been asked if it only occurred on white oak, I’m not sure I would have gotten it right. Interesting name “wool sower” but a fair description. Makes me think I need to find a “naturalist” group to follow to help me solve nature’s mysteries in this neck of the woods. I’m not mountain here, as you are, but neither are we firmly in the Piedmont either. We are in a transitional area between the two. PS: about the Virginia creeper, I have heard (though I don’t recall when nor where) that some people ate the leaves as a spring green and called it “sour vine”. We never did that when I was growing up in SE KY though.
This is what AI says:
The object in the image is a Wool Sower Gall, a unique plant growth found on white oak trees.
Cause: It is induced by a tiny, harmless wasp (Callirhytis seminator) that lays eggs on the tree.
Appearance: The gall looks like a fluffy white cotton ball with pink or red spots.
Function: It serves as a protective house for the wasp larvae inside.
Impact: These galls do not cause long-term harm to the tree and require no treatment.
~~~Gary Fletcher, Japan
I am so allergic to poison ivy. I have always been. I got a bad case of it last year. I had to see my dermatologist. Lucky and the kids are always telling me me to stay away from certain areas in our yard. I am going to try the blueberry biscuits. I usually make 1 cup of flour for Lucky to have 5 biscuits to eat all through the day. I will have to make mine with Enkorn Flour. I am allergic to gluten. That stuff has changed my life in so many ways. Thanks for sharing. God bless.
This is a Wool Sower Galls (https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2025-06-20-fuzzy-growth-oak-trees-wool-sower-galls)
It is form by wasps on oak trees and each contains a single wasp larva & they provide food & shelter for the larva.
It’s a wool sower gall. It’s caused by secretions of a small wasp. She lays her eggs on the white oak trees and the tree reacts by creating the “gall” the pretty flower like growth. I’ve never seen it but it’s pretty !
Wool Sower Gall on an oak tree, specifically a white oak. Not a flower or fungus, but an abnormal growth created by the tree in response to chemicals secreted by larvae of a tiny wasp.
Wool sower galls! This is where a wool sower wasp laid her eggs on the oak tree, and a “gall” formed around the eggs. Harmless to the tree!