Root
Category
Natural History / Animals, Plants & Fossils
Date
Unknown
Materials
Wood
Measurements
212 x 170 mm
Order this imageCollection
Snowshill Manor and Garden, Gloucestershire
NT 1338032
Summary
Root formation. This wooden object, previously described as a wooden carving, is actually a natural growth or gall. Certain tropical mistletoes leave perfect attachment imprints on the host stem long after they have rotted away and fallen off. These club-shaped or mushroom-like malformations of the host wood, intricately sculptured by the impressions of the mistletoe haustorium, are called "wood roses." They are a perfect cast of the parasite's haustorial attachment. Bought from Wyndham Payne, Cheltenham, 14 June 1945
Provenance
bought from Wyndham Payne, Cheltenham, 14 June 1945 for 17s 6d Given to the National Trust with Snowshill Manor in 1951 by Charles Paget Wade.