365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
The Booger Tree
Day 153: I'll readily admit that I am a poor mycologist. It's taken me the better part of two years to identify the life form which gives the Booger Tree its name. When I first discovered it in the spring of 2015, it was as fresh and plump as you see it here, but by the end of summer, it had withered to a flaky crust, thin as paper and fragile to the touch. When the autumn rains arrived, it rejuvenated and I watched it go through the same cycle again through 2016. In the interim, I took a sample and put it under the microscope. It wasn't the most successful operation, but it did allow me to see the asci, and today, I finally found information confirming what I had observed through the 'scope. That said, this is one time I will dispense with scientific nomenclature in favour of a common term: the Booger Tree will remain the Booger Tree for as long as it and I are standing. (If you're really curious, the scientific name is in the labels.)
Labels:
Booger Tree,
Exidia candida,
jelly fungus,
Longmire,
MORA
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