Showing posts with label Fungi: Clathrus cibarius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fungi: Clathrus cibarius. Show all posts

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.