# foam on leaves **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foam-on-leaves/112668 "2002-06-06T13:36:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hirsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8c91f0/32.png) [@Hirsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirsel)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foam-on-leaves/112668/1 "2002-06-06T13:36:20Z")
recently we were wandering through the woods near a swampy area, where we saw a small plant with some white foam around axles of its leaves. My friends were speculating that the foam might be snail eggs. I am suspicious, but have no clue. Any biologists, or rather botanists, out there? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foam-on-leaves/112668/2 "2002-06-06T13:46:39Z")
It sounds like [Cuckoo Spit](http://brisbane-stories.powerup.com.au/boondall/boondall_pages/environment/spit_1.htm) (which has nothing to do with cuckoos, it just appears in the springtime at about the time that cuckoo calls are first heard) is a foamy protective environment that froghopper (a type of insect, not a frog) nymphs make. ---
**Author:** ![Hirsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8c91f0/32.png) [@Hirsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirsel)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foam-on-leaves/112668/3 "2002-06-06T13:53:40Z")
I would also like to mention that we are talking Denmark here. I wonder if the old froghopper also lives here. Maybe a cousin of his. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foam-on-leaves/112668/4 "2002-06-06T14:43:53Z")
I’m in the UK and we have them here (although the link that I gave above was to an Australian site - it just happened to be the first one I found describing them), so I would think it’s the same thing; I suspect the little buggers are everywhere. You can confirm it’s Cuckoo Spit by poking around in the bubbles with a twig; if it is, you’ll find a little pale green bug about 3-4mm long. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foam-on-leaves/112668/5 "2002-06-06T14:57:22Z")
yep - here in the u.s. we usually refer to that type of bug a spittlebug (usually order homoptera). There are several species and the larvae produce the exudate that looks like spit. ---
**Author:** ![Hirsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8c91f0/32.png) [@Hirsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirsel)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foam-on-leaves/112668/6 "2002-06-06T16:31:33Z")
okay thank so very much, another thing learned. Homoptera, cool name, “same wing” or what? H ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foam-on-leaves/112668/7 "2002-06-06T17:24:54Z")
There was a [MPSIMS thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113859) about this just recently, complete with [pictures](http://community.webshots.com/album/37463861oZabOy). Check it out, see if what you’re seeing is similar.