It sounds like one of those classic \u201cnatural mysteries\u201d where you initially imagine tiny aliens or lost Styrofoam balls, until you learn the fascinating truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What surprised you so much in the woods was most likely one of these two:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yellow Slime Mold (also called \u201cWitch Butter\u201d)
Although it looks like a mushroom, it\u2019s actually a slime mold (Fuligo septica). Surprise: This thing is neither a fungus nor a plant\u2014it\u2019s a single-celled organism that can walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why it\u2019s surprising: Slime molds can move (very slowly) to find food. If you returned the next day, the yellow ball might have moved a few centimeters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appearance: Initially bright yellow, foamy clumps that later solidify into a firmer, dusty mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gall wasp intestines (gall apples)
They may also have been perfectly shaped, yellowish-red balls on the underside of oak leaves or on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surprise: This is not a growth of a tree, but a dwelling. The gall wasp laid its eggs in the leaf tissue, and the tree was essentially \u201ctricked\u201d into building this protective capsule for the larva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contents: If you were to (carefully) open it, you would find a small larva inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pea mushroom (young)
In its very early stages, some gasteroid mushrooms can peek out of the ground as small, yellowish balls.
Surprise: When ripe, they often look like dried dog poop or dark lumps, but are known among gourmets as \u201cCzech truffles\u201d (although they are more commonly used to color sauces).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What surprised you so much? Did the \u201cthing\u201d move or did you discover something alive inside?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It sounds like one of those classic \u201cnatural mysteries\u201d where you initially imagine tiny aliens or lost Styrofoam balls, until you learn the fascinating truth. What surprised you so much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nteresting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19851,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19849\/revisions\/19851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tastyfood.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}