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Maple-crimson Velvet Erineum Galls on a maple leaf at Green Hill in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

One of the perks of bushwhacking is encountering weird stuff like this. It is a mass of Maple-crimson Velvet Erineum Galls, produced by tiny mites. These mites use genetic warfare, injecting the maple leaf with their saliva, causing the tree to create these dwellings for the mites instead of normal leaves for itself.

BIG PHOTO