No, really, if you know, please tell me! This stuff is driving me crazy (although there are those who would argue that I reached crazy long ago...but I digress). It is growing on the pawpaw trees along one of our trails in the work swamp. If I can ID it then I can include it in some meaningful way during the interpretive hikes I lead. Currently I just point it out and say something intelligent like, "I don't know what it is, but isn't it cool?" Not exactly stellar interpretation and education ;)
So, what's your guess? Fungi? Lichen? Slime mold? Alien being from space?
11 comments:
Ugh.. never seen such before..
I would say these are fungi of some kind but.. I'm a fan of mushrooms so I consider almost everything fungi unless proved different )
It looks like slime mold to me, although I've not seen one on a living tree trunk before.
I would interpret it as slime mold; it's a rich topic with an appropriate grossness level (if you talk about dog-vomit slime mold).
I vote for alien. Not the most likely answer, but potentially the most entertaining.
I agree that it looks like a cellular slime mold of some type, but it might also be an odd fungus.
Hugh,
I was leaning toward slime mold, but they are such a bother to ID ;) Luckily I can usually find a little dog-vomit in the mulch near the trail head...great stuff!
Wren,
Hehe, alien does have a certain appeal, doesn't it?
Anon,
Guess I could break down and actually take a sample and look at it under the scope. Structure could eliminate some choices...
It's nice, but you know it's not really a dog, don't you?
Pablo,
Yes, I harbor no illusions: it is definitely not a dog :D
If I were on your hike, I'd want to hear the alien story... you could include cows in it!
Alien sounds good to me!
The top pic made me think Lichen, but the middle pic looks a little slimemoldian.
woverman,
If I included evil cows I would have to include their twisted physics... ;)
Fishy Girl,
Alien might be easier to key to species!
FC,
Yeah, it's a tricky one. I keep checking back from time to time to see what it's up to. Oh, nice interview by the way!
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