leaf roller

American  

Or leafroller

noun

1. any of several insects, especially moths of the family Tortricidae, the larvae of which form a nest by rolling and tying leaves with spun silk.

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Etymology

Origin of leaf roller

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

The leaf roller is defoliating birches in Alaska, while the gypsy moth has been munching leaves in New York.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, a famous apple-growing region, hordes of a small insect called the red-banded leaf roller arose to plague the growers as soon as DDT began to replace arsenate of lead.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

The little leaf whereon, like a leaf roller, or miner-worm, he had been crawling and feeding, was falling now to earth behind him, a skeleton leaf.

From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul

My trees are troubled with canker-worm, flathead borers, twig-borer, and leaf roller.

From The Apple by Various

If you are troubled with the crown borer, root lice, leaf roller or rust, grow one crop and plow under, or move your fields a good distance from the old bed.

From Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 Embracing the Transactions of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society,Volume 44, from December 1, 1915, to December 1, 1916, Including the Twelve Numbers of "The Minnesota Horticulturist" for 1916 by Latham, A. W.