Budding bodies

Sometimes, you have to look twice to get what’s happening. Of course, this is an advice for still life only. Or is it?

Here is what I found a few days ago. Got striked by the brown body growing out of this plant. Asked myself twice, weird, it really looks like the plant was parasitised by a big fungus. I admit I may have been influenced by other cases of parasitism I’ve observed a few weeks ago.

What's that?

Of course, the location should have oriented the diagnostic: this thing is growing at a place where regular pieces of plants grow, a typical bud location. Yep. But then, a parasite would divert existing structure into their own plans for multiplication. Nothing extraordinary. But I had never seen something like such a fruiting fungus body doing that. Okay, but I’m at place many things weird happen, biologically speaking, right?

Sure. But I was rather optimistic. Or just wrong. The plant hundred meters next proved me I should not interpret too many things as weird. This can be just a regular way of life.

And these?

I guess you see where this is going to end… :-)

Flowers. Heavily compacted flowers (note the stamen length, it is rather impressive).

Hum, basically, an inflorescence.