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The real Rose of Skagen
The genuine Rose of Skagen is blooming on the heath, and is not a flower at all, but an abnormal growth in the top shoot of a low species of willow - named Salix Repens.
The Rose of Skagen. The picture is of the "Rose" as seen in natural.
The special shape of the top shoots is caused by a little wasp belonging to the greater group of gallflies. It lays its eggs in the shoot which the small larvae later are devouring. In that way a so-called gall is formed, and the leaves become stunted and look like a little rose.
This phenomenen of nature has been known as the Rose of Skagen from time of immemorial - more than a hundred years.
