[güttsfükk]

Snake eggs? Hatching iguanas? Pod people?

John and Cynthia Patton didn’t know what to make of the white, round objects that looked like eggs and were resting in a flower pot of their Bonita Springs home.

Cynthia Patton discovered the objects that were approximately half an inch wide while gardening in her yard Tuesday, July 27.

Upon closer examination, Patton saw something that she had never seen before. One of the “eggs” had cracked and seemed to be, as she put it, “blooming” a brightly-colored substance.

“I was struck by the red color,” she said.

After Cynthia Patton showed the objects to her husband, both assumed they were some sort of reptile eggs. The Pattons decided not to disturb the objects and left them in the pot overnight.

The next morning, they found one that one of the objects had “hatched” into a red spherical object with symmetrical perforations.

“It looked like a soccer-ball with perfect hexagonal patterns,” Cynthia Patton said of the object that emerged from the shell.

There was a yellowish film around the mysterious object and a swarm of flies were buzzing in and around it.

John Patton was struck by the pungent aroma that was now emanating from the flower pot.

“It smelled like rotting flesh,” he said, which further convinced him that they were animals eggs.

Later that day, the red object withered, until it rested in the flower pot like a deflated balloon riddled with wholes.

The following evening, another “egg” “bloomed.”

John Patton said he was considering breaking one of the remaining eggs open to see what was inside. But first The Banner sent pictures to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida to see if representatives could identify the mysterious objects.

Jonee Miller, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist at the Conservancy, said the objects were not animal eggs at all. She speculated it was likely some sort of fungus.

On Friday, The Banner posted photos and the Patton’s story on the Web site, www.the-banner.com and asked for readers to aid in identifying the “blooming eggs.”

Several readers sent e-mail messages suggesting that the objects in the flower pot were red cage fungus or clathrus ruber, a kind of stinkhorn mushroom.

This fungus is known to start in a shell and grow into a smelly red cage, like the kind found in the flower pot.

Professor Jim Kimbrough, a mycologist from the University of Florida, confirmed our readers findings on Monday after looking at photos of the Patton’s flower pot.

In an e-mail to the Banner he wrote, “These images are the young stage of the stinkhorn fungus, Claturus ruber. They are a nuisance because of their foul odor but they will disappear whenever the weather becomes dry. They are not poisonous; in fact, some (Asian) groups consume them for food.”

Peggy Cruz, a horticulture specialist at the University of Florida Lee County Extension, said the fungus is not uncommon in Southwest Florida.

The name stinkhorn comes from its foul smell, which attracts flies, Cruz said. The insects feed on the inside of the fungus’ cage which also houses spores. The flies then carry the spores with them, helping the fungus reproduce.

In essence, the relationship between a fly and a stinkhorn fungus is similar to that of a butterflies pollinating a sweet smelling flower.

Cruz said most gardeners find stinkhorns to be a pest. But for the Pattons, the red fungus was more of an exciting science lesson.

John Patton said, “It was a lot fun just trying to figure out what it was.”

source : http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/...mysterious-bl/

[annmarie]

interesting

[p4irs]

buahaha

[warsuron]

I don't know therefor ''aliens''