While weeding the blueberries last week, we discovered dozens of these cottony eggs and at least a few of the penile protruberances peeking up from the wood chips. I summonded all my reserves of courage before cutting one of the eggs in half, all the while praying--ok, begging--to anyone who would listen that I wouldn't be slicing a baby turtle, bird, or the Cadbury bunny in half. S/he listened, apparently, because all we found was a layer of goo surrounding another egg, which was filled with a spongy pink and green material.
We speculated about all the obvious explanations--a
War-of-the-Worlds-type alien, the hanta virus, or a preppy fungus of sorts. But in the end, we still had no idea what we'd found. Love lettuce is currently accepting explanations. Please write your suggestions on the back of a 40-inch end-grain Boos butcher-block counter and mail it to our offices. Prizes will be awarded. Thank you.
3 comments:
I'm pretty sure that's a human hand.
Did I win anything?
I'm pretty sure that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is responsible for this!
UPDATE! People who know their stuff say our friends belong to the family of fungi called "mutinus caninus," also known as the Dog Penis Stinkhorn. It's fairly common on wood-chip mulch around this time of year, they say.
The tip of the penis secretes a sticky, smelly goo that is attractive to bugs, who eat it and unwittingly carry spores back home.
And apparently, if one were to put the white eggs seen in the photo in a humid container, they would grow into penises in just a few hours. We at love lettuce love science experiments.
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