Thursday, June 3, 2010

Mystery Plant, Take Two

I had posted pictures of a Mystery Plant we saw in Virginia the beginning of May. Thanks to a GardenWeb Forums website, it has been identified as Conopholis Americana, aka Squaw Root, Bear Root, or Cancer Root. It is parasitic and grows on Oak tree roots.

I have another mystery plant, though. This one is growing in the beds that I put the beans in this year. When we were putting in the poles, we found what we thought were 'puffball' type mushrooms. They were small, though, smaller than I've ever seen puffballs. About one inch across, maybe slightly more, shaped like potatoes. And they had roots, and they seemed to be all connected together. There were maybe 8 of them growing under the dead leaves, it was very moist there. They felt like Jello with a slight skin.I forgot about them. Then, this.

They still feel Jello-like. They look....well. You can see. The brown is mud, underneath they are the red-orange you can see below the mud.


When I saw them from a distance (above), I can honestly say my first thought was something was dead under the leaves with its legs sticking out. Then I thought Garden Gnome. They really are very strange looking.

Any ideas?

3 comments:

Angie said...

Maybe a mycologist could identify this fungus?

Me voici ∞ Here I am said...

They look evil. Trap them and fedex them back to Pat Robertson.

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

Maybe they are Asparagus, it takes a couple of years for them to be ready...Ginny