Oak tree flowers....

we saw these flowers on an Oak tree near by, I haven't seen any like them before ?

[Saxa van Eijnsbergen]

First glance I thought these were apples that had been nibbled on by squirrels or birds. I've never seen this before, intriguing!

[Bep]

As far as I know these are galls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall

[Louise]

@snowy @overalvandaan

They're oak apples. A type of gall :)

[Saxa van Eijnsbergen]

@roachling oops, I'm surrounded by oaks, but never spotted these, so much for my observant eye ;-)

[Louise]

@overalvandaan There are various types, I bet you'll have seen oak marbles and oak spangles before without realising. And artichoke galls as well as knopper galls (on acorns) too. I almost forgot pea galls as well... https://365project.org/roachling/365/2013-12-06

Didn't realise myself until now just how many galls oaks gets! They don't harm the tree.

[Lou Ann]

Very interesting and unusual.

[Dawn]

Excuse my ignorance but are you sure they aren't apples , I'm viewing on my iPhone

[Penelope Ann]

Oh my that's different. My uncles middle name was Oakapple!

[Sue Cooper]

I've never seen these before. I've learned a lot from this post Diana. Thank you.