Found in Switzerland, close to a river on humid soil in December 2014. Fungal or algal organism?
Hi,
is it not simply ice? Often I found in winter such "mycelium look like" features on tree branch on frozen soil, but is is simply ice in fiber.
Thanks for the hint - yes, you are perfectly right. In a meantime I have found some more details: it is so called "frost flower" made of this layers of ice.
They talk about this phenomenon in the actual "Pro natura magazine" : it's often due to gaz liberate by mushrooms and pushing water at the surface of the wood.
In the US, there are a number of plants in Cistaceae and Asteraceae that produce such "frost flowers" as the root systems continue to pump up moisture at night after the tops of the plants have senesced and broken off. Examples include Verbesina virginica (http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=VEVI3), Helianthemum canadense, and Lechea intermedia.
Ein nicht völlig identisches, aber sehr ähnliches Phänomen habe ich im Bot. Garten Halle beobachtet, dort waren es erfrorene Zweige, aus deren Leitelementen Wasser ausgetreten und sukzessiv gefroren war. Vielleicht ist alles nur mehr oder weniger reines Wasser, wenn es taut. (Eckehart J. Jäger, Geobotanik Halle)
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