On my walk home this evening, I noticed this evil-looking thing sitting on the trunk of my car. I have to admit that it frightened me at first—until I inspected it closely. I suspect I was triggered because it reminded me of a young triffid, the venomous, human-eating plant in the horror novel and movie The Day of the Triffids.
Okay, botanists, tell us what it is:
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Looks like a burr.
Google image search revealed that it’s a plant.
Way to go, Goole.
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*Google! Way to go, Ant.
Way to o! 😏
How big is it?
About 3.5 inches across, as I recall.
Did you open it up? It might be a gall, made by microscopic wasps. If so there will be a small cavity in each sub-unit, possibly with a tiny larva in it.
Here is an example:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/rose-cane-galls.htm
Yes, that looks similar, but I know it’s not a gall (or at least not solely a gall) for reasons I’ll give later.
Hmmm,
[hums “Jaws theme”]
OK. I’m going to hypothesise that PCC(E) knows more about galls than the man on the Clapham omnibus. Not hard. And further, I’ll hypothesise that some species of Drosophila have gall-forming interactions with a variety of plants.
That plant has a lot of gall 😏
Gall. My initial thought too. (Disclosure : after getting up to speed on orchids, Dad went on to “do” the grasses, then sedges and for he last 20-odd years has been getting up to speed on galls. We can hardly go for a walk (or a drive) without it being punctuated by “oh, there’s a Murblefunfig Gall” comments. Disconcerting when doing 90 down the motorway, with the gall in question being on a tree on the opposite side of the road.
A Murblefunfig Gall? Send in the pictures!
[Blurred picture of opposite side of motorway.]
Just because ad can spot them, doesn’t mean that I can.
We have the same interaction over rocks – I see things that he just doesn’t see. Or rather, that he doesn’t notice as being significant.
If you still have it, cutting it open so we can see more of the structure would help. It might be a gall, but I suspect it’s a “normal” fruit (cluster of them, really) of something I don’t immediately recognize.
Sub
Oh dear! Is someone using plants to send you a mean message? I hope not! Plants should not be used in such nefarious ways. 🙂
And Day of the Triffids scared me when I was a kid. The sucking sounds!
Yeah, the 50’s had some really cool horror movies that scarred the crap out of me as a kid. Also Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Blob (Steve McQueen!)
IMO, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of the great psychological horror films of all time. The scene where the protagonist looks in the eyes of his female companion who had briefly fallen asleep and suddenly realizes she is one of “them” still haunts my nightmares.
I often think about this as I interact with many people who voted for and support Trump, and right wing ideologies in general. Parasitic memes and meme-plexes have taken over the brains of a large segment of our population. They look like people we know, but they aren’t who they used to be.
I just try to avoid falling asleep…
Invasion of the Deplorables!!!
And it’s all Dawkins’ fault, as usual.
After all, memes didn’t exist until he invented them.
😦
cr
it looks a lot like a gigantic version of Sparganium americanum, so i suspect it’s a seed pod, too.
https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SPAM
IGNORE that SPAM, that is a plant classification
Hazel nut cluster
I agree. Check out photos of bracts of Corylus columa, Turkish Hazelnut.
Tried that one on Jerry by secret channel( since I did not know how to post the link or embed the image). He says ‘no’???
It’s an immature fruit cluster of Corylus colurna, a European hazel species. Note the glandular hairs.
Glad to hear it. That’s the “Turkish Hazel” I mentioned below. 🙂
Is there a purpose for the glandular hairs?
Ye I concur, a fruit/seedpod of Corylus colurna. Here in SA we have several seedpods looking like that, but not hazelnuts. Converging evolution? Poses the question: what is the selective advantage of looking like an alien? 🙂
I’m not happy with that. Jerry’s mystery blob has abundant glandular trichomes, and I’m not seeing bracts on it — seems more like a cluster of fruiting calyces. I’m thinking I’ve seen Ipomoea fruits that are something like this. I’ll look into that possibility.
::palm slap::
Of course! No wonder it was so familiar: we have beaked hazels (Corylus cornuta). So I knew this was a seed and I knew that I had seen similar but couldn’t place it. It’s not often we get to see the cluster because everything out there gobbles them up before we can usually see them.
Mystery solved! I also thank you, sedgequeen.
I’m sorry, but I’m sure it’s not Corylus. The resemblance is only general and none of the visible details match.
Looks good to me.
That might be it. It fell from a tree overhead, and there are more, so I’ll have the answer after I walk to work tomorrow.
More images, please! Cut one open and let us see the actual fruit and maybe a seed.
Here’s a <a href="Turkish Hazel“>Visit W3Schools seed/nut pod.
Wonder if Jerry’s find could be some horticulturally produced hazelnut variant?
Ahem.
Turkish Hazel
Oh, the suspense!
A katydid?
Did you consider nightjar?
😀
A nightjar mimicking a katydid.
A nightjar mimicking Jerry’s car.
Damned good mimic too, particularly after Jerry opened the door and got in.
Do those “transformer” movies use the obvious joke?
Probably,then, a weevil mimicking a hazel nut cluster?????
Audrey II?
“Feed me!”
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I don’t know the species, but the name is “Audrey 2”
“Feed me now!”
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So does Jerry have hazelnut trees growing where he parks his car?
Should have had a “trigger-warning”, for “Day of the Triffids” viewers on this post! Gotta keep up with PuffHo! 🙂
Funnily enough, I was watching Day of the Triffids last night, and as soon as I saw the photo I thought “baby triffid”, before I read Jerry’s comment. Keep a bucket of salt water handy, Jerry, just in case.
The soul of Linda Sarsour, come to haunt you.
Good one!
cr
“I have to admit that it frightened me at first”
But you are Angry Cat Man. I guess we can call it your kriptonite. It is green after all.
I’m no scientist. Just a 77-yo wannabe. But it surely looks to me like the female fruit of Maclura pomifera, commonly known as a Texas horse apple.
That’s what we call Osage Orange, but I think the Texas name is a lot more fun. 🙂
Had a look on Google images and although there is slight resemblance, that part (which appears to actually be the female flower, not fruit, but you probably knew that) really shows significant differences from what Jerry found.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera#/media/File:Maclura_pomifera_003.JPG
(Add https:// to the beginning of that for a hotlink.)
“the horror novel and movie The Day of the Triffids.” Noooo!
More accurately ‘The thought-provoking science-fiction novel and the sensationalist horror movie based very loosely on it.’
If you get time Jerry, do read the novel. I think you’d enjoy it.
Yes, the book is much better. One of John Wyndham’s “cosy catastrophes” (I think it was Brian Aldiss who coined that phrase, to cover Wyndham’s many novels where a catastrophe wipes out most, but crucially not all, of the human race).
In a huge coincidence, I just read The Day of the Triffids for the first time two or three weeks ago. What other Wyndhams do you recommend?
Oh Diane, that’s a tough one, as I read most of them about 50 years ago. I suggest that you start with The Chrysalids (aka Re-Birth), since it touches on several themes common on this website.
The Midwich Cuckoos is, of course, the source of the movie Village of the Damned, and one I have enjoyed.
Good luck, and let us know sometime what you think of them.
And there’s also The Kraken Wakes.
Most of Wyndham’s sci-fi stories deal with current society (or what was current when he was writing them) and explore what happens to ordinary people when something catastrophic occurs. But like Colin, it’s a long time since I read them.
His short stories are quite good. I’ve just been reminded that he wrote Dumb Martian, which was a commentary on racial prejudice and misogyny – not without a streak of wit.
cr
It’s a baby one of these:
Whatever you do, do not annoy it!
cr
Slight aside…
I was 10 years old when the BBC series of Day of the Triffids was on and my Dad convinced me that a road sign that said, “Caution! Heavy Plant Crossing”, were because of them
When I tried to do this on my own kids, they just asked what Triffid was
Time for a remake!
Given how much Hollywood is mining old films and series, I’m surprised we have’t seen one yet.
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What the heck is a “Heavy Plant Crossing?”
This picture should make it clear:
The official guidance:
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So – not this:
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Thanks for the first response, and LOLOL at the second. 😀
Looks like some kinda thistle.
As I said above yesterday, it’s an unripe fruit cluster of the Eurasian hazel, Corylus colurna. It is commonly known as the Turkish tree hazel. See the Wikipedia article with pictures: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Corylus_colurna
The compound leaf shown in another post is not from this species. It may be from a nearby honey locust.
Were there seeds in those hollow spaces, or were seeds visible under the tree? Galls also have hollow chambers. If there are seeds, it would conclusively disprove the gall hypothesis.
It’s a Capillamentum Praesidis
Looks like thistle to me.
Maybe Silybum marianum
Capillamentum Praesidis is President’s Wig not to be confused with Capillamentum Pseudopraesidis, The False President’s Wig, not to be confused with Capillamentum Pseudopraesidis Vulgaris