Hikers find strange green crystalline growth in New York woods. What on earth is it?
Hikers recently stumbled upon something strange in the New York woods.
A pair of broken branches brimming bluish green on both ends, the rotting wood filled with something like crystals, a photo snapped in the Catskill Mountains show.
The color sticks out in nature, more akin to rare gems or chemicals kept under the sink than muted fall foliage. But vibrancy can be a warning — a way of saying look but don’t you dare touch the unknown.
The hiker touched.
“I was captivated by its color,” Reddit user goat-scream11 said on her post, sharing a photo of the “gorgeous” and unusual find.
Commenters chided goat-scream11 for picking up an odd object in the woods bare-handed, particularly one that looks like it crashed to earth from outer space, or appeared from some darker dimension.
“Not my brightest moment,” she said.
Thankfully she only held the sticks for a moment, then doused her hands with Purrell — just in case.
Suggestions for what the teal crystalline formations might be ran the gamut, but one commenter suggested a perfectly terrestrial explanation: fungus.
Specifically, a type of mushroom known as green elfcup. So named for its “characteristic small, green, saucer-shaped fruit bodies,” according to iNaturalist.
Elfcup grows on and in rotting wood, and imparts its color throughout as its mycelium spreads, experts say.
The example found in the Catskills seems to be particularly vibrant when compared to other sightings.
And goat-scream11 isn’t the first person to be drawn in by the fungus’ distinctive hue. There are examples, spanning back centuries, of wood-workers seeking out “green oak” to add unique flair and elegance to a given project — and the mycelium-stained wood is still used today.
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