Barclay Willow Rose. This is not a flower, or a rose at all. It is a gall caused by a Midge Fly that lays an egg on the leaf bud of the Barclay Willow in late winter or early spring and the grub hatches out, bores into the leaf bud and live inside until summer when it emerges as a fly. This alters the growth of the stem and all the leaves end up emerging as a swirl of misshapen leaves that take on the appearance of a flower. The grub is eating the inside of the stem so it can't grow normally. If the grub isn't so lucky, a Metallic Green Bee lays her egg on the gall "flower", it hatches into a larvae and bores into the heart of the flower, finds the grub and lives inside the Midge Fly grub. Ultimately the grub dies and the Metallic Green Bee larvae emerges as a mature bee and the victor.
