What the holy mother of hell is this?

[Darren Garrison]

Found it growing on a cedar tree. Is it some sort of insect egg case? Or a parasitic plant? Or an advance scout for an alien invasion force?

I could get better pictures of it with my digital camera tommorrow, if necessary (these were from my flatbed scanner).

[Darren Garrison]

Update-- here's a newer pic:

it growing on a cedar tree. Is it some sort of insect egg case? Or a parasitic plant? Or an advance scout for an alien invasion force?

I could get better pictures of it with my digital camera tommorrow, if necessary (these were from my flatbed scanner).

[Ann]

Darren Garrison expounded:

parasitic plant? Or an

necessary (these were from my

Very strange little things, aren't they??!?

[Mark]

parasitic plant? Or an

Appears to be vegetable (rather than animal) in nature. Beyond that, I have no clue.

[Salty Thumb]

Ann wrote in news: [e-mail]:

pshaawww, don't let her fool you.

those are clearly the newly shed exoskeletons of the land dwelling octopus: octopus squirrelbraineatingerensis

here is some more info on land dwelling octopi

[Mike LaMana]

Spore fruiting-bodied of Gymnosporangium rust (a fungus), also called cedar apple gall rust. The rust needs two host to complete the lifecycle: Juniper and some Crabapple, Amelanchier, Hawthorne, etc.

[paghat]

Or a parasitic plant? Or an

necessary (these were from my

I thought it was a Cthulhu turd.

-paghat the ratgirl

[Ann]

Salty Thumb expounded:

[Callen Molenda]

parasitic plant? Or an

necessary (these were from my

I want one! I could really scare the hell out of my husband with that!!! ;-)

Callen in VA

[rosie]

thanks ann...............i cannot believe the things i learn in here!

[dps]

Marketing Opportunity!

Look for them on EBAY.

(watch for nationwide Cedar Rust epidemic later this year)

[Swyck]

Good thing he's sleeping.

Swyck

[theoneflasehaddock]

You should market those. The perfect solution to squirrels in the garden. You'd make $millions.

-

theoneflasehaddock

[royroy]

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 19:35:22 -0400, Darren Garrison wrote: I posted your message to a professor friend, Here is his reply:

Good to hear from you. I hope you didn't touch this thing. If you did, you better check your crotch in the next few days. You may have something growing there! NO--- I'm just joking. The organism in the photograph is the cedar-apple rust. It's a fungal parasite of both apple trees and cedar trees. It is a very exotic looking beast when it grows on the cedar tree.

Here are a couple websites that show similar photos with an explanation of the life cycle.

You may have to cut and paste to get the entire address into your browser. And I hope this helps, because I'm only serving as the middle man. I have no personal knowledge of this thing

parasitic plant? Or an