Monday, June 24, 2013

Rusty nettles


The recent warm, humid weather has provided excellent conditions for the development of stinging nettle rust fungus Puccinia urticata and there are some colourful infestations on our local nettle patches.



The disease tends to produced flattened, distorted stems and also .....




































... patches of spore cups on the underside of the leaves. 

For a close-up view of the spore cups and their contents in a related species of rust fungus, click here.


3 comments:

  1. Not a post about your Country and Western alter ego, Phil? And probably all the better for it. You do find some absolutely amazing stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yee-haw Graeme! Rusty Nettles and the Blue Grass Boys - sounds good eh! Orkney looks wonderful on your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Phil. Orkney reminds me very much of Durham, or perhaps the Durham of my youth. The farming's not too intensive and there's consequently plenty of wildlife. And a healthy dose of Norse heritage.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.