The Urban Pantheist

The eastern subspecies of the Tree Octopus Octopus paxarbolis* turns out, under sober reflection, to be a fungus. Specifically, it is the gall of a fungus with an interesting two host life cycle. The gall overwinters as a woody knob on an eastern red cedar Juniperus virginiana** but when the warm spring rains come, out come the tentacles. The jelly protuberances release spores into the air, which can infect a number of plants in the rose family (including, for economically important reasons, apple treesMalus sp.***).

Once inside the second host, the cedar-apple rust Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae**** grows until it forms pustules on the leaves and fruit. Orange rust-like growths produce spores that then must infect a red cedar to continue the cycle. The fungus doesn't usually seriously harm it's hosts, but consumers don't like to buy hand fruit with pustules on them, I guess.



* "Eight-footed Pacific Tree-dweller"

** "Virginia juniper"

*** "Apple" Jesus do I have to do everything?

**** "Naked spore vessel on eastern red cedar"