While watering the Texas Lilac last Saturday I found these on the ground at the base. They were laying there not growing there and that knot on top appears to be where they were at some point attached to the mother ship....I mean mother plant. I still have that movie running through my head. When wet they looked like really large purple grapes (the ones imported from Chile...those things taste great by the way)...but these things I will not be sampling. I put them on the porch to dry, remembered them today and found the outer shell is hard. They are now brown and when I cut one of them open and found pure white stuff inside. A little puff of white powder puffed out when the scissors broke the skin of the pod and when pulled apart the inside has the appearance, in it's form, of the underside of a mushroom but the texture is sort of papery. Unknown pods, could be our replacements : ) ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) I have taken about a dozen photos of the inside and even though this one is not clear, it is the best I could get. Maybe they don't want their photo taken for fear of their nefarious mission being discovered. I really don't like that movie, it creeps me out just thinking about it...both the 1956 and 1978 versions have their special creepiness so I won't watch either of them a second time....but I digress. Here is the photo..... Inside of the pod ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) Any ideas of what they are? And if anyone says "Bye bye, it's been nice knowing you" I am going to never sleep again.
puffball perhaps? it is a type of fungus that is harvested up here. they can grow quite large and are a real treasure for those who like them, BUT there are similar looking ones that are not edible, so I wouldn't recommend tasting it unless you know for certain if it is a puffball.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, terrible movie but the BBC series was good. I have no idea what it is, but looking at photos of puffball mushrooms I guess it could be one of those. I have no intention of eating it, not a fan of stomach cramps and dying....if it's not a puffball. Does this mean I can sleep tonight without fear of waking up a whole new person tomorrow?
