A Fourwing Saltbush Gall Mystery Solved
September 30, 2025
If you’re a fan of weird twists in nature (like me), and enjoyed my November 25, 2024 post, “A Quirk of Nature: Fourwing Saltbush,” you may have lost many hours of sleep wondering how I could’ve missed such an obvious mistake! You know the one. The labeling error made when naming those cottonball-like insect galls hugging the Fourwing stems.
In my confusion (or wishing to cover all options?), I seemed to believe two different midge species were somehow responsible for the same gall.
Are they Rosette Bud Gall Midge galls or Fourwing Saltbush Wooly Gall Midge galls?
Decisions, decisions.
My Quandry quite clear, it was time to consult the experts.
A short 10 months later, confirmation arrived from the iNaturalist experts in all things “Fourwing.” All the puffy galls are none other than those made by Fourwing Saltbush Wooly Gall Midges!
And the answer to my question is well timed, as the stems of the female Fourwing shrubs are once again ‘heavy’ with Wooly Gall Midge galls. Now I know! Now you also know!
Enjoy this official correction, at long last, and wishing you sweet dreams.
As always, thanks for stopping by!
PS: My journal page was created by first sketching in graphite the two Fourwing stems, followed by outlining with loose ink lines from a Micron 005, adding a background of both soft and medium charcoal – blending with a stump, then using a Tombow Mono Zero eraser to clean up the ‘cottonballs,’ before adding watercolor pencil, color splatters, and eraser lines randomly placed through the charcoal background. A bit experimental, and lots of fun.
a curious nature 
What a great follow-up! Solving nature mysteries can be so satisfying, following that chain of curiosity and wonder. I love how you experimented with several mediums to achieve interesting effects on the page. A great learning experience in investigation as well as creativity!
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Thanks, and Thanks, and Thanks again, Karen! Although I do make corrections to all my mistakes on not journal pages, I’ve never posted a formal and separate correction. But this gall and the midge larvae it houses needed to be called by its right name, and because I’ve been in awe of the number of cottony galls on Fourwing plants, I created plan B – fix and post! Besides I’m always revisiting my old journals, refreshing my memory and looking for new angles on favorite plants, birds, animals, rocks, etc.
Glad you found my media combo interesting. Working with charcoal is messy, but I was curious how watercolor would overlay it.
Have a super wonderful week!
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Great solve! I was about to ask about how you brought the background to life but you have already covered that ground. It’s beautiful how the wooly gall midge stands out against the white paper smoothly
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many many thanks! White on white is always challenging; I’m constantly experimenting with new (to me) approaches! Love your comments!
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