Wednesday 13 June 2012

Natural lattice work

Visiting the hens in their yard I was surprised to see on the grass what looked like a white plastic ball, (about 70mm diameter) of a lattice design. On closer examination it turned out to be a fruiting body of a fungus.
 A very weird fungus indeed and the tumbleweed of the fungi world, as once they form from the gelatinous egg they often break free and are blown about by the wind depositing spores as they roll along. Two species are very similar and the difference is in the colour of the gleba,  on the inner surface of the lattice work and in this  Clathrus cibarius the gleba is a slimy dirty brown, where as on the other it is a sage green.

2 comments:

  1. Very neat and interesting photo & info of "tumbleweed" type fungal fruiting body.
    This link talks about a strange jelly like substance found in Stockholm, Sweden. I believe it's a type of basidiomycete- similar to Aseroe rubra. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/249701-Help-us-Identify-this-Mysterious-Cthulu-esque-Organism-Spotted-in-Stockholm-Sweden

    take care, John Haase- Oklahoma, USA

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    1. Thank you for the comment and information and pleased you found the blog of interest.
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