wierd growth on mates camellia

Hi all,
My friend has a large camellia, 10ft x 10ft, growing in semi-shade under a large tree. It looks really healthy with loads of fresh growth. But it has this weird white thing growing at the end of 3 stems. From a distance it looked like a crumpled glove, white, spongy and about 5/6 inches long. (Sorry no pics) :rolleyes: We cut one off and cut it open and its white and spongy all through.
Is this some form of disease? Couldn't find it in my Camellia book, but she has several huge specimens and I would hate to see anything happen to them :(

 

Sounds interesting windy, how about a pic.
Could be a fungus I suppose.

 

I'm sorry I don't have a digi camera (yet) and if I did, I'm such a luddite I wouldn't be able to post a pic anyway :rolleyes: Will see if can borrow one perhaps. Thanks for the reply pete

 

camellia gall looks like a hand, according to RHS pests and diseases book - how does that grab you? :rolleyes:
http://images.google.com/images?q=camellia+gall&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en - cdan't say they look much like it to me, but you never know!

 

Fantastic Dendrobrium! Yep that's it. Will tell her to remove them and thank God it doesn't mean certain death for her Camellias! Thank you so much, she's been worrying all weekend that her garden was going to be decimated by an alien growth :D

 

Hey Windy, we had the same on our camellia we also were concerned thought it might have been an insect inside but ours have now gone with no sign of damage to the bush, perhaps its our cornish air ?

 

Hi Macleaf!
I hear the tarmacs melting round Stithians :eek: Every lane will soon be full of tractors stuck to the road and the 7stars full of men in blue coveralls :D :D
Think the galls are a damp shade sort of problem. But as for the cornish air - that's not so much of a problem as the fertility drugs that they put in the water :D :D

 

Hi windy your right the tractors are flying around,they have just finished picking the potatos by the lake and spilled enough to keep me going for weeks,as for the water l dont notice too much as the whiskey with it keeps me perky

 

hello , more people from my fav. place, Cornwall ( you lucky ba#*!rds)
windy....does your new garden resemble the eden project yet????
when are you taking a walk around eden to "borrow" some seeds????

 

Macleaf :D :D
steveb, I wish my garden looked like Eden; more like Dingles yard at the moment :D Don't have the nerve to 'acquire' seeds like you yet. I'll wait until your next trip down and you can give me a masterclass :D