Any ideas what this is?

[Harvestman]

And now for something completely different...

Is this even a fungus, or is it a liverwort? Found growing on a muddy/gravelly/slightly wet-flushed car park



Either way, I have no intention of eating it.​

 

[Perrari]

Dont Know, but it looks disgusting. I think you are right not to eat it.

 

[bushwacker bob]

Green Algae also called nostoc. Its a cyanobacteria, neither moss, fungi or liverwort.

 

[Harvestman]

Thanks BB!!

I mentioned that it might be a cyanobacteria on another thread where these pics are posted, and that was the conclusion that I was coming to. Just the fact that it is green rules out fungi, and I've seen cyanobacteria grow like this in mountain streams.

Much appreciated.

 

[decorum]

Green Algae also called nostoc.

Thanks for that, I see it occasionally but always defer success in remembering to ID it

A quick search (quote from here) threw up ...

When it is on the ground, a nostoc colony is ordinarily not seen; but after a rain it swells up into a conspicuous jellylike mass, which was once thought to have fallen from the sky; hence the popular names, star jelly, troll’s butter, witch's butter (not to be confused with the fungus Tremella mesenterica), and witch’s jelly.
Michael Quinion of the "World Wide Words" newsletter says that it is known in Welsh as pwdre sêr (rot of the stars).

Has it been raining much then? :umbrella: :sad6: .

 

[Harvestman]

Has it been raining much then? :umbrella: :sad6: .

If I remember rightly I think there was a brief shower last Thursday.


It was hard to tell as it was sandwiched between two torrential downpours.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Nostoc commune.

 

[ged]

Apparently some people do eat it, but I wouldn't.

http://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=7774

 

[Geoff Dann]

Right. So it's edible. That means I have to try eating it. I just went up to where I saw it the other day to take a photo. Now I'm going to go back and collect some. I've tried eating slime moulds; why not cyanobacteria? I expect its like the green seaweeds ("sea lettuce"), but not so tough.

On the way there I also found my first one of these oddities:

No leaves, no clorophyll, hardly deserves to be called a plant at all!

 

[Harvestman]

Pic not showing Geoff.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Pic not showing Geoff.

Fixed, I think.

I have tried the nostoc. Perfectly edible. Fried in bacon fat, tasted of...bacon fat. A lot like the leafy green seaweeds.

 

[Harvestman]

Is that a broomrape Geoff? I've never seen one. Nice pic.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Is that a broomrape Geoff? I've never seen one. Nice pic.

Yes. I'd never even heard of them until this year. All on its own. I don't know which sort it is.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Try the common broomrape

 

[Geoff Dann]

Try the common broomrape

I guessed that's probably what it is, but having never seen any sort of broomrape before it was hard to be sure. Thanks.

 

[Galemys]

I guessed that's probably what it is, but having never seen any sort of broomrape before it was hard to be sure. Thanks.

So it's probably parasitizing on the clover plants?

There's ivy broomrape in the park near my work, they're weird and wonderful plants.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[bushwacker bob]

So it's probably parasitizing on the clover plants
Tom

No, its yellow...birdsfoot trefoil

 

[Jackdaw]

That's not Birdsfoot Trefoil. Totally different flower head. It's probably Black Medick.

 

[Harvestman]

That's not Birdsfoot Trefoil. Totally different flower head. It's probably Black Medick.

or lesser Trefoil. I can never remember which is the larger out of Black Medick and Lesser Trefoil. You are right on it not been Birdsfoot trefoil though.

 

[Geoff Dann]

or lesser Trefoil.

It's lesser trefoil, yes.