Alder tongue gall

Okay kiddo, imagine that trees have tongues just like you do! Alder trees have a special kind of tongue called a "gall." This is caused by a tiny insect called a "gall mite" that makes the tongue swell up into a weird shape that looks like a little alien spaceship or a mini football.

The gall mite actually lays eggs inside the alder tree's tongue, which causes the tree to react by making the tongue grow bigger and bigger, until it becomes this weird-looking gall. It doesn't hurt or harm the tree, it's just a funny little bump that you might see if you look really closely at an alder tree.

So, that's what an alder tongue gall is - a funny-looking bump on an alder tree's tongue caused by tiny insects. Pretty cool, huh?