What in the Woods Is That?

Play our biweekly guessing game!

Whatever draws us into the forest—be it birdwatching or logging, hiking or hunting—all of us are unified by the sense of wonder we feel in the outdoors. The forests, fields, and streams of our region are full of mystery, and if you stop and look closely, you’ll see all sorts of oddities.

Below find a picture of one such woodlands curio. Guess what it is and you’ll be eligible to win a Northern Woodlands woodpecker magnet designed by artist Liz Wahid. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner’s name, will appear when the next column is posted and in our newsletter (sign up here!).

Sweet and Slimy

A Northern Woodlands staff member was walking along a river in Virginia when she found this sweet-smelling, multicolored goo dripping down the side of a toppled stump, directly under some recently cut wild grape vines. Despite the southern location of this photo, you can find similar slimy specimens in the Northeast. What is this?

Answer

This is tree slime, and as you may have guessed from the way we worded the question, the grape vine is a primary factor here. The photo shows grape vine sap that has dripped onto the stump, where a combination of yeast and fungi from the genus Fusicolla has colonized the sap. One common species in this genus is Fusicolla merismoides, also known as “deer vomit.”

This week’s contest winner was Ann Basehore