Does an ocean-loving octopus live in Oklahoma? Take a closer look at the Eastern red cedar
Eastern red cedar trees are abundant hereabouts. My challenge to you is to sidle up close to one of these mature trees and be on the lookout for a slimy glob of orange tentacles. It may not be an honest-to-goodness octopus, but it sure as bedevils looks like one!
Let me introduce you to a most unusual mushroom. It has this name cedar apple rust fungus. The moist, dangling appendages are the structures that eventually dry up and release the organism's spores.
If you are not inclined to be repulsed by the squeamish side of things, I'd encourage you to grasp the thing with a full-on, meaty grab of your palm and all five fingers. To do so will elicit a hearty, deep-throated shriek from any little sisters that might be nearby and watching your adventurous actions. It's a cheap thrill, but what the hey!
Neil Garrison was the longtime naturalist at a central Oklahoma nature center. His email is atlatlgarrison@hotmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Cedar apple rust looks odd on some of Oklahoma's Eastern red cedars
