Nodules on an old Holly tree...what on earth are they?

The other day, I was removing root suckers from a very old Holly (Ilex) and I noticed these:

No, I had no idea what they were, either.

They appear to be hard, round, nodules: about the size of garden peas, and scattered all along the base of the tree, where the base flares out.

I'd never seen anything like this before, so, as any good professional gardener should do, I took photos, and later on, I got on the computer to see what I could find.

A cursory internet search ("nodules on holly" "holly bark galls") threw up lots and lots of images of similar lumps.

Success!

They are sphaeroblasts - great name - which are totally harmless little spherical outcroppings of woody material (ie "wood") (*laughs*), which appear on, according to Wikipedia, "some species of beech (Fagus), holly (Ilex), horse chestnut (Aesculus) and southern beeches (Lophozonia), and also occasionally appear on quite a wide range of other tree species, including conifers."

Not exactly uncommon then, and perfectly acceptable to find them on my Holly trees.

Phew! That's a relief!

No-one seems to know exactly what causes them, but they are only casually attached to the tree, and by that I mean that it doesn't do the tree any harm if they are knocked off, or cut off. Not that I'm planning to remove them: they're not doing any harm, but it's good to know that if they get accidentally damaged, they won't cause any problems.

And now I know something interesting about holly trees!

 

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