Mossy oddity

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moss, photography

This bush seems to have dropped all its leaves for winter, but acquired moss balls as a replacement. (It was one of several bushes like this.)

A definite oddity

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Diplolepis rosae, gall, Robin's pincushion gall, Rose, rose bedeguar gall

Now this is an odd thing, isn’t it? I spotted these growths on a rose bush last year and here they are again—but now I know what they are. It’s Diplolepis rosae, otherwise known as the rose bedeguar or Robin’s pincushion gall, among other things. It’s “caused by the parthenogenetic hymenopteran gall wasp,” and the details are fascinating.

I was interested to see Wikipedia’s comment that it “has more folklore attached to it than most”—one can certainly see why.

Okay, I’m off the kalamari

Tags

squid, weird

Photo by creativity103, CC BY 2.0

Clearly my empathetic qualities are unevolved, because when I read this article, the experience of the female squid was not of primary concern to me.

Some days are just like that

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tree, weird

I slept badly last night, so I’ve been dragging my butt around today, but not as much as this tree.

A really, truly, weird one

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fungus

It's baaaaaack!

This popped up in our yard last year, and it was so strange that I put quite a bit of effort into figuring out what it was. It’s Helvella lacunosa, sometimes called fluted black helvella, or slate grey saddle, or fluted black elfin saddle, or… there appear to be a lot of choices, take your pick.  There’s also a lot more of them this year than last. 

What the heck is this?

Looks like something from the movie Alien, doesn't it?

Yesterday I spotted this weird plant next to the trail I was taking through the woods; I’d never seen anything like it. Today I went back and photographed it.

Then I came back and started digging in my books and on the web, and now I know what it is. Do you?   

Tick tock!

Did you know? Tent caterpillars are weird.

“Its life is very different from that of most fish.”

I adore David Attenborough. (Via BoingBoing)

“A terrible omen for the continued existence of the world as we know it”*

Yesterday while driving I heard a piece on a chart-topping pop star from Japan, Miku Hatsune. Pop in terms of the kind of synthpop music she sings and pop as in popular—she has oodles of fans and does sold-out live shows. She’s 16 years old and has blue hair and has been performing since 2007. So far this sounds like standard fare, right?

It’s not, quite.

Mystery

Found on the beach. What on earth are they?

My personal best guess is very small Martians.

Well, they LOOK like they could crawl across a city, rayguns blazing...