The balls on the branch tips are a specialized kind of apothecium (a mazaedium), in which the ascus dissolves and leaves a powdery spore mass behind. The asci of most other discomycetes remain intact, and use a kind of hydraulic pressure to forcibly eject spores.
Ken-ichi Ueda
2014-02-13
2014-02-13 4:06:54 PM PST
United States of America, California, Mt. Tam, Marin County, CA, USA